Take a Step Back
by Fantastical394
Summary: The doctors of Seattle Grace have been trough it all, love, loss, death, sadness. Now, a mysterious girl shows up at Seattle Grace and changes their lives forever. And absolutely nobody is prepared for it. Post Shooting.
1. Mercy

Chapter 1

Sirens blared and lights flashed. People ran out of nearby shops to uncover the meaning behind this commotion. Snow fell in thick sheets, obscuring most everyone's view. Paramedics jumped out of their ambulances and lifted an unconscious woman with red hair onto a stretcher. The paramedics carefully lifted the stretcher into the back of the awaiting ambulance and slid it in. Quickly, they shut the doors and the driver got into the front seat. The ambulance sped away, into the blizzard. A different ambulance stayed behind.

The paramedics with this ambulance were busy trying to pull another person out from in between a semi-truck and a large minivan. Their body was crushed in between the two vehicles, so that all you could see of them was a foot.

"If we don't get them out soon," a paramedic yelled, "they are going to bleed to death." They continued with their fruitless attempts at prying apart the bumpers of the semi and the minivan.

"A tow-truck is on it's way!" Another paramedic yelled. He was covered head to toe in thick, white snow. He had an exasperated expression on his face. "There is nothing we can do but wait."

"I guess you're right." Grumbled the paramedic that had been fumbling with the bumpers. She was a short woman with shoulder length black hair peeking out of her hood. "In the meantime, do we know exactly what the hell happened here?" She gestured to all the people that had been standing around, watching them. They all had the same weary, scared expressions on their faces.

"That redhead was walking on the sidewalk. This semi spun off the road and came flying towards her, she never saw it coming." A man piped up from the back of the crowd. His face

was hidden behind a balaclava and he spoke with a strong New York accent. "But, at the last second, somebody jumped up and pushed her out of the way. The semi came barreling into them instead and crushed them between the semi and this minivan" many gasps arose from the crowd.

"Did anyone see them, before they got hit?" the paramedic questioned the group again, trying to find any clue as to who this mysterious savior was.

"No. Sorry. But, whoever his is, that redhead owes them her life. Whoever got hit, they are a savior." The man with the balaklava said, his voice was wracked with a tone of sorrow,showing pity to the unnamed hero. This time, a murmur of agreement rose up from the growing crowd of people surrounding the scene. Many people were taking pictures, others were calling their loved ones, telling them what had happened. A few were praying.

"The tow truck is here." The other paramedic yelled over the crowd. "Everybody move out of the way. Backup, backup. Lisa," he said, addressing the other paramedic. "we are going to need to get the

m on a stretcher as soon as possible. We are also going to need a lot of gauze. There is probably going to be third degree burns. serious bleeding, extensive crush injuries, and extreme internal injuries. We need to make sure that there is a general surgeon, a neurosurgeon, a cardiothoracic surgeon, a trauma surgeon, and a plastic surgeon on standby, try and get the head of each department. Oh, we are probably going to need an orthopedic surgeon as well. This will be difficult." The female paramedic quickly dialed a number on her phone.

"Yes. This is Lisa, I was..." She ran away to get to a quieter spot. The tow truck latched itself onto the back of the minivan. It started to pull. Slowly, a small gap started to form between the two vehicles. A pool of red, shiny blood was visible under the van. The front number of the van was covered in shattered glass and thick blood. People backed out of the way, craning to get a view of the person that was crushed. The further away the van was pulled, the more noticeable the large, pool of blood on the ground was.

The two truck finally managed to get the van away from the scene. The paramedics rushed to the front of the semi, hoping the injuries wouldn't be as bad as they thought. They knelt down to see if they good help the crushed person, but the truck was in the way, so it obscured the view of the crowd. Lisa sat there on the blood and snow covered ground, her mouth was moving, as if she was trying to say something, but no sound was coming out. The crowd, craned their necks to get a glimpse of what she was gaping at, but Lisa stood up and shouted at the crowd.

"Somebody call Seattle Grace. Tell them to put another doctor on the semi case. Tell them to get a pediatrician."


	2. SOS

"If you want to hurt them like they hurt you, shoot me." Those words played over and over in her mind. She could remember every single detail of that day, from peeing on the stick,to talking to Cristina about Derek's perfect hair, all the way up until he got shot. She remembered the look on Gary Clark's face when he pulled the trigger, a look of sheer hatred. She remembers the soft look of compassion on Derek's face when he has tried to bargain for his life. And the gunshot, oh, Meredith remembered the shot. She heard it every night, before she went to sleep. She heard it every morning. It never left her ears. She always heard it ringing.

But, the thing was, that was all she could remember. After the shot, nothing was clear. All of her memories were fuzzy. On occasion she got bits and pieces of it. The image of Cristina operating at gunpoint, Derek bleeding out, Owen getting shot. She remembered all these hints, but she could never put them in order. They were just a random assortment of events that played out in her mind.

Meredith Grey now sat on an empty bed in the ER. She had been given control of the ER, and of course, on the day that she is in control, nothing happened. Nothing at all. The only two patients she had seen came in because of a sprained ankle and nausea, which she had taken care of quickly. She had been daydreaming, but her dreams were soon filled with images of Derek bleeding out on the catwalk, Cristina with a gun to her head, blood spreading down her thighs, so she decided to stop. Now she was just sitting, waiting for her shift to be over, lazily counting the number of tick marks on the syringe on the tray next to her. 13, 14, 15, she thought to herself.

"This is the most boring day ever." An intern groaned. Meredith looked up. The interns that were supposed to be working the ER with her were milling about the empty room. Some were lying on beds, others were eating food, one guy was practicing IVs on another intern. All of them looked thoroughly bored. "I thought being a surgeon was supposed to be exciting. You know, saving people's lives, fixing them, helping people. All I've done today was help mister "I don't need crutches!" get out of the hospital without spraining his other ankle. Secretly, I was hoping he would hit his head. Maybe then I could see the inside of an OR!"

"If you keep acting like that," Meredith chimed in, "then you won't see the inside of an OR for a month." All the interns stared at her,obviously they had all forgotten that she was there. Even the ones doing the IVs had stopped what they were doing to listen to Meredith. "If you keep complaining, there is never going to be a trauma. It's like waiting for water to boil. It's never going to happen, so just shut up and go clean something." Meredith hated when interns complained. They had no idea how hard being a surgeon was, how hard the 48 hour, non-stop shifts were, how hard telling someone that their loved one was dead was. This was only their third day. They were baby surgeons, no, not even baby surgeons. They were smaller than that. Fetuses. Yes. They were only fetuses.

"And besides, whenever someone complains about the ER being slow, a major trauma happens, and it becomes to much work, and it makes you wish that it was quiet again because later in your residency, quiet moments like these are few and far between. Enjoy them while you have them." Meredith ended her rant. She didn't need to prove anything to these fetuses. Soon, they would understand. Soon.

"Sorry Doctor Gr..." The loud ringing of the phone cut her off.

"I told you a trauma would come. I told you!" Meredith jumped off her bed and ran towards the phone, on the inside, she had been just as whiny and bored as her interns, but she would never give them the satisfaction of knowing that.

"Seattle-Grace Emergency." She announced as she picked up the phone. There was a long pause. The interns stared at her, waiting for news on the incoming trauma. Meredith's face immediately contorted from a look of happiness, for the trauma, to a look of fear. "Oh God." Meredith whispered. There was another long pause. "Oh God." Meredith whispered again, sounding completely shocked."15 and 30 minutes out?" She asked. "Alright Lisa. We'll be ready for you." Meredith hung up the phone. She stood shocked for a minute.

"So?" the interns asked, snapping her back to reality.

"Oh, right. You Jefferson," she pointed to one of the interns,"go to the blood bank. Get all the o-neg you can. Mullaney, page Doctor Sloan, Shepard, Hunt, Torres, and Bailey. Tell them we have a massive crush injury. Tell them it's man versus semi. Go!" The interns ran off.

"Man versus semi? Can anyone survive that?" One of the interns asked Meredith.

"I don't know." Meredith answered plainly. Honestly, she didn't think anyone could survive a crash like that, but what did she know. She had survived a drowning, a bomb, and a gunman. What did she know about the odds of survival?

" , you said 15 and 30 minutes out. Are there two victims?" One of the remaining interns looked at Meredith. She didn't answer. "Dr. Grey?"

"What? Oh, oh yeah, right. Yes there were two victims, well not really. Only one person actually got crushed. The other just has a concussion. It seems that a woman was walking and a drunk driver, driving a semi, cut across the road and onto a sidewalk. It was going straight for the woman. But, then, out of nowhere, someone pushed the woman out of the way. The savior was the one hit. The truck kept going a crashed into the back of a minivan, crushing the person in between the two cars." As Meredith said it aloud, it seemed as though the savior would have no chances survival. Hit by a semi? That alone would kill you, but then, getting crushed between it and a van? Surviving that would be damn near impossible.

"Why is it going to take them 30 minutes to get here, and the other ambulance will be here in 15?" They asked again.

"Well, see, the thing is, they weren't able to pry apart the cars to free the victim. They had to call a tow truck. They said they should be getting them out any minute now."

Just then, a horde of people burst through the ER door. It was Mark, followed by Bailey, Callie, and Owen. Derek ran in a few seconds later. Each of them had bags under their eyes. Callie's eyeliner was smeared all over her eyelids and Owen's ginger hair was ruffled in an unusual way. Obviously most of the had been sleeping. They all looked pretty tired, accept for Derek. Per usual, there was not a hair out of place on that head of his. His eyes had an "I'm ready to cheat death!" kind of sparkle to them. Ugh.

"What trauma is so important that you had to bring us all in here at 2 am?" Bailey grumbled as she pulled on a yellow trauma gown. The tiny doctor slipped the gown over her scrubs and tied it up. "Because if you woke me up for no good reason," she glared at Meredith, "I will make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?" Meredith understood, completely. If there is one thing you don't do at Seattle Grace, it's piss off Doctor Bailey. How can someone that tiny be so damn terrifying?

"Trust me. It's a big trauma." Meredith replied.

"How big Grey?" Dr. Hunt questioned as he pulled on some latex gloves. "What is so big that you had to call down the head of each department?" The ginger's eyes glinted, as if he was ready to fight.

"Would you say a person that was hit by a speeding semi, and then crushed in between it and a van is a big enough trauma?" Every one of them stopped what they were doing immediately. Derek had his trauma gown half on and Callie was in the middle of tying back her hair, but that didn't matter. They all stared at Meredith. Meredith looked around at all the surprised looks on the other surgeons faces. She loved it when the senior doctors were stumped. It made her feel less stupid than usual.

"And they're still alive?" Mark stared at Meredith, dumbfounded.

"As far as they know." Meredith replied promptly.

"What do you mean As far as they know?" Callie looked puzzled. She had returned to tying her hair in a ponytail and was now making her way over to a trauma room, making sure it was ready for, well, trauma.

"Well," Meredith started. "since they were crushed in between the two cars, they were stuck there. They paramedics had to call a tow truck. They had no idea if they survived or not. They have to wait until the tow truck pulls the van away before they can give us any more information." She started pulling on a trauma gown herself. Her hands quickly tied the strings tightly behind her back. "Alright. The first ambulance should be here any minute now."

"The first ambulance?" Owen turned around suddenly. "There are two victims? When were you planning on telling us this?"

"I was just about to tell you. A woman was walking on the sidewalk. A drunk driver, driving the semi, drove off the road. The woman didn't see it, but, lucky for her, someone else did. Someone pushed her out of the way. She didn't get hit, but when she was knocked out of the way, she hit her head on the cement." Meredith quickly told them about the other patient, hoping not to get yelled at.

"W….." The loud siren drowned out Derek, who was about to start speaking. The ambulance pulled up to the entrance to the ER. The lights shined through the doors and into the empty room. The sirens blared out, deafening all the surgeons. All the trauma-ready surgeons made their way to the doors. They ran out into the blizzard that swirled outside. They could barely see, the thick snow was obscuring their view. Callie was the first to make it to the ambulance.

"27 year old female with a minor head contusion." A short, male paramedic hopped out of the front seat of the vehicle. "Lost consciousness in the field. BP is 100/60." He made his way to the back of the ambulance. The man wrapped his hand around the door handle and pulled it open all the way, clearing a way to get the gurney out of the back.

A second male paramedic stood in the back of the rig. His broad shoulders were hunched over a gurney with a woman on it. The woman was strapped to the gurney and her head was held in place by a piece of foam. Her hair was in her face, so she was unrecognizable. The two paramedics carefully lifted the stretcher out of the back of the rig and out into the blizzard. Meredith ran to the side of the gurney, near the woman's head. She looked at the body of the patient. Meredith recognized this woman. She didn't know why.

"Do we have a name for this patient?" Dr. Hunt asked the paramedic as they wheeled the gurney inside. They laid the gurney on a trauma bed and carefully unstrapped the woman.

"No it's a Jane Doe." The short paramedic answered. Suddenly, Meredith gasped. She knew this woman. She knew this woman. Meredith shakily took her hand a brushed the red hair out of the woman's face. What she saw almost made her cringe. She knew this redhead.

"This is no Jane Doe." Meredith said shakily. All the other doctors stopped what they were doing to look at Meredith, each urging her to finish her sentence. "This is Kepner. Guys," she looked around. "This is April Kepner."

*Sorry if the chapters aren't elaborate enough! They get more and more detailed as the story goes on!


	3. A Hard Day's Night

**Disclaimer-I don't own Grey's Anatomy. Trust me. If I did, it would be way way way way different. Please enjoy this chapter. Please review!**

April was having a bad day. Not just an, I don't want to go to work bad day, or an I have a headache kind of bad day. No. Today was a day when nothing good happened, at all. When she drove to work, she got a flat tire ten miles from the hospital. Her patient, a twenty year old male with a gsw to the shoulder, had an a seizure and died on the operating table. And later, when she went to the bar for a drink, someone spilled beer all down her blouse. Her favorite blouse! Sure April had had bad days before, but this one was exceptionally bad. Probably because it ended with her almost getting hit by a semi.

17 Hours Earlier

"I have a bad feeling about today, Jackson." She announced to her besit friend that morning in the lounge. She was sitting on the bench, tying her favorite Nike shoes tightly. "It's just one of those days when nothing feels right. I got a flat tire on the way to work. If that is not a bad sign, I don't know what is!" Jackson gave her a skeptical look.

"You are probably just tired. I mean, I would be if I had just come off a 48 hour shift." Jackson teased her as he changed into his scrubs. April stared at him as he pulled off his shirt, revealing his chiseled chest and arms. She watched his muscles tense as he bent over to get a fresh scrub top. What she would give to go up and…No! Bad April! She thought to herself. Get your mind away from there! She shook her head, trying to shake those dirty thoughts from her mind. She looked down. Crap! She thought. While she was gawking at Jackson, she had tied her shoelaces together. What an idiot.

"You can tease me all you want Avery. But don't come crying to me when your day is crappy. If you do, I'll smack you in the face with a big I told you so!" April retorted back, attempting to casually untie her laces without Jackson noticing.

"Fine. Fine. I believe you." He raised his hands, surrendering to April. Just then, April's pager went off. She jumped up, having successfully untied her shoes, and picked up her pager. 911 Pit, it read.

"There's a trauma coming soon. Hunt paged me to help him with it. Wish me luck!" She smiled as she ran out of the lounge. Oh boy! April thought. She loved trauma. Well, she didn't love the trauma itself, that would be sick, but she did love the cool surgeries it brought with it.

April ran through the hallway, and pushed through the trauma center doors. The room was full of activity. Torres was in bay 1, popping a young man's shoulder back in place. Sloan was in bay 2, suturing up a nasty head laceration. Dr. Shepard and Mrs., sorry, Dr. Grey, (she never knew what to call Meredith) were in bay 5 holding down a little girl that seemed to be having a very violent seizure. April scanned the room, looking for her fellow redhead doctor. Her eyes caught a glimpse of his flaming hair just outside the ambulance entrance. April grabbed a bright yellow trauma gown from the dispenser on the wall and ran towards him.

"Dr. Hunt?" She called as she ran out into the ambulance bay. Snow fell silently onto the asphalt. Small layers of ice were forming on the sliding glass doors. Gray clouds were layered overhead, dropping snow like, well, snow. "You paged me." She came to a stop next to the trauma surgeon. He wore no sleeves to cover his arms coat and had snow coating his hands. He looked cold, but he didn't seem to mind. He gave her a smile.

"Yeah. I did. We've got a trauma coming in. A 20 year old male with a GSW to a shoulder. Bank robbery." Owen told her. He had a smile on his face, but she could see in his eyes that he was sad. Hunt always took shootings personally, he had stared at the face of a gun so many times. He always gave them special attention. And, since their own traumatic experience a few months prior, shooting cases always tugged at the heartstrings of the doctors at Seattle Grace.

April has always admired . Ever since the shooting, she had gained a new respect for trauma and finally began to understand the struggles Owen had faced in his life. Being able to perform well under pressure was something that April found truly amazing about him. The two locked eyes for a moment, neither said a word.

"It looks like we may have a blizzard on our hands." Owen said quickly, pulling his blue eyes away from April's strong gaze. April turned away, looking out onto the street, and she saw what Owen was talking about. The snow was beginning to fall thicker, and a layer at least 4 inches thick had formed on the road. The bright flashes of the ambulance's lights broke through the white barrier of snow in the sky, startling both doctors. The vehicle raced up the street and came to a screeching halt outside the ER. A paramedic hopped out of the front and ran to open up the back door.

"20 year old man with a GSW to the shoulder. Had a BP of 90/50 in the field. There was massive blood loss. He lost consciousness about 15 minutes ago and hasn't come back since."

The paramedic opened the back doors and assisted in picking up the stretcher and putting it on the gurney. Owen and April took the gurney from the paramedics and pushed it inside.

"Dr. Shepard took his girl up to surgery, so bay 5 is clear. You can put him in there. Assess and dress the wound. Run a full work up and get me x-rays of the shoulder." Hunt sent April off to bay 5 and she did as she was told. April cleaned the blood away and examined the wound. The bullet left a small hole in his left shoulder. It was still oozing blood slowly. April,dragged in the portable x-Ray and positioned it directly over the young man's shoulder. She pulled a protective vest over her torso and took the pictures. Five minutes later Nurse Olivia came back with her images.

"Crap." April groaned aloud a she examined the image. "The picture says that the bullet went through the shoulder and into the chest, and lodged itself in his rib cage." April lifted up his arm to investigate, and sure enough, there were holes from where the bullet left the shoulder and entered the chest. "This is not going to be as easy as we thought. Someone paige Hunt."

5 Hours Later

"April, it's not your fault. Nobody could have foreseen what happened. There was no way we could have known that he had unnaturally thin blood vessels. Sometimes arteries burst. There is nothing you could have done." Hunt assured Kepner while they scrubbed out of surgery. Their GSW patient died on the table from massive blood loss. He had just lost 180 pounds and his blood vessels were extremely thin and weak. Sadly, they found that out right after his aorta had blown in the middle of surgery. His blood began clotting and the lack of oxygen made him have a seizure mid-surgery. April and Owen had tried to save him, but he had bled out to quickly and he died on the table.

"I know. I just wish we could've saved him. I mean, he was only 20." April sniffled as she fought back tears. The young man's death reminded her of the death of her best friend Reed a few months prior. It's just not fair. You shouldn't be allowed to die before you ever really live. The thought of Reed made her sad, and obviously her face showed it because, almost instantly, Owen put on a softer expression.

"You can leave now April." Owen said softly, patting her on the back. "I'll go and tell his mother. I don't think that you're in any shape to talk to the family." He took his hand off her back and headed out of the scrub room. April wanted to protest, but she knew that the attending was right. She was in no shape to talk to a family. Her eyes were puffy, her hair was a mess, and her makeup was smeared everywhere. Wow! she thought as she looked at her reflection. You look ugly!

45 Minutes Later

"Give me another beer Joe." April said grumpily as she sat down at the bar across from the hospital.

"Did you lose a patient or something?" Joe, the bartender questioned April as he pulled a beer out and slid it across the bar.

"Yeah." April let out a quiet response, signaling that she did not want to talk about it. Joe picked up on this and backed off, leaving her alone at the end of the bar. The redhead sulked by herself, electing to ignore the stares from the multiple of hospital employees that were in the bar with her. They're staring at you. She thought. They've all lost patients before. But when they lose patients, they don't close themselves off from everyone else. Yeah, well they aren't 27 year-old virgins with like, two friends. April argued with herself.

April stayed at the bar for a few hours, drinking who knows how many beers. Slowly, her mind began slipping in and out of soberness and drunkenness. That's when she knew it was time to head home. She didn't want to show up at work with a hangover,nor smelling like booze.

"Put it on my tab Joe." April said groggily. Joe looked at her questioningly, debating whether or not he should take her keys. April, reading his mind, shot him a quick answer. "Don't worry. My car had a flat tire. I'm going to take the bus." She nodded assuringly, grabbed her coat, and walked out the door.

"Holy crap." April said aloud when she walked outside. The snow was falling thicker than ever. Now a 10 inch layer of snow covered the ground. April trudged down the block to the bus station, regretting not wearing her waterproof boots. She scrape a layer of snow off the bench and sat down at the bus stop, hoping that the busses were still running in this weather. Pleas! she thought. I don't want to sit here all night. April sat there, alone for 5 minutes, running over the events of the day in her mind. After 10 minutes, April began to doubt that the busses were running. Come to think of it, she had only seen about 3 cars the entire 10 minutes. Deciding that a bus was not coming, April got up off the bench. She decided to go back to the hospital and sleep in an on-call room.

The redhead began to cross the street to the hospital. She has no idea if she was jaywalking or not, but it didn't really matter. There were no cars on the road. She sloshed through the murky, muddy road water and stepped in a giant puddle. Great. She thought sarcastically. April pulled her now soaking foot out of the puddle and finished her trudge across the street. She heard a buzzing noise behind her and turned around, and looked for the source of the noise, but the snow was so thick, that she couldn't see anything. April shrugged and kept walking. The buzzing got louder. April turned again just in time to see it. A semi.

Time seemed to stop as the semi plowed through the snow, straight at her. April couldn't move. She was paralyzed with fear. The semi was not far from her. April finally understood what her patients meant when they said that their life flashed before their eyes. April began seeing images of her childhood home, her family's farm, her sisters, her college roommate,her med-school friends, Jackson. April finally closed her eyes, accepting the fact that she was going to die. The last thing April remembered was someone running into her and hitting her head on the pavement. Then she blacked out.


	4. Name Poll

I am having trouble deciding the name for a character. I narrowed it down to a few. Please comment your favorite name! Please choose between these.

Charlotte(Carly)

Allison

Olivia

Gianna(Gi)

Kendall


	5. Crash Into Me

**Please Rate and Review! Also I could really use your help with the name. Don't be afraid to voice your opinion! Sorry the reviews aren't posting. Usually they do. They show up on my profile, but not the site. Hopefully I can fix it!**

There was a collective gas, and a small "Oh my God." from Callie, as the group of doctors began recognizing their injured coworker. Each doctor had a look of sorrow on their face. Everything went silent for a moment, and they all just stood there.

"Well, luckily she wasn't the one hit by the semi." Owen offered, trying to break the tension surrounding them. Derek grunted in agreement and Bailey nodded her head, her hand still over her mouth. "It looks like not all of us will be needed for her. Derek, stay here and run a work up on April. The rest of us will get ready for the second victim." Owen dismissed his fellow doctors with a flick of his hand.

20 minutes went by and, finally, Teddy made her way into the ER. She had just finished a pulmonary bypass. Owen immediately came over to brief her on the situation. Teddy's face slowly morphed from shock, to sorrow, to anger, and the finally ending in a look of exasperation. Callie and Mark had begun arguing in the corner. Bailey was pacing back and forth, no doubt worrying about April. Meredith just stood there staring at the glass doors separating the blizzard outside from the warm ER. There were never many cases this late at night, so none of them were paged to help any other patients. Suddenly, Derek exited April's trauma room, a smile on his face.

"April is fine." Derek said, startling all the doctors. "Aside from a small concussion, she will be fine. She'll probably be out for a few more hours, but she'll be fine by this time tomorrow." Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief, as if they had been holding it since April was rolled in on the gurney. The tension in the room seemed to dissipate and all the doctors seemed a little more relaxed. Meredith turned her attention once more to the door. Derek walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist. He pulled her in close and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. Meredith loved these soft, tender moments, especially since their job took up so much of their time. It was hard to get alone time.

"Should we call Jackson?" Meredith asked Derek, still wrapped in his arms.

"Why?"Derek looked at her.

"Well, April has no boyfriend, and she and Jackson are best friends. I bet she would like it if he was there when she woke up." The couple stood there quietly for a few moments. Owen looked over at the couple and nodded.

"Yeah. I think Jackson should know. Mullaney!" Hunt hollered at the terrified intern. The thin man ran up to the chief trauma surgeon. Hunt tossed him his phone. "Call Dr. Avery. Tell him that Dr. Kepner received a concussion and lost consciousness. She is stable, but would probably like it if he was there when she woke up." Mullaney nodded his head and walked off, dialing the number as he went. "Good call Grey." Owen gave her a curt nod. The doctors resumed their monotonous activities. Then, the phone rang.

The loud noise snapped all the doctors out of their lull, bringing them all back to reality. Callie, who was the closest to the phone, picked it up and answered it groggily.

"Seattle Grace Emergency." Callie yawned. There was a long pause. Callie's eyes slowly got larger and larger as she listened to the paramedic on the other end of the line. "A-are you sure?" Callie stuttered." Um, yeah. Okay. Okay. See you in 15." Callie slowly hung up the phone, her hands trembling. She looked over at the other doctors, her brow creased.

"What is it Torres?" prodded.

"It was the paramedic from the crash site." Callie said slowly. "They managed to pull the van away to get the person out." She looked slightly disturbed. Mark gave her shoulder a gentle shake, urging her to go on. "They called and said they needed another doctor on the case. They said they needed a pediatrician." Her eyes dropped to the ground.

It took a moment for all of them to grasp what they had just heard. They all just stood there, staring. Suddenly, there was a loud thumping sound. Teddy had dropped the files she was holding on the ground. Bailey gasped, her hand once again going up to cover her mouth. Mark began running his hands through his hair. Nobody said anything.

A kid.

"So, the person who saved April, is a kid?" Derek stuttered, breaking the eerie silence. "That's just...that's..."

"Are they alive?" Teddy said.

"Barely. Barely." Callow whispered. "They said the kid was still alive, but they lost a lot of blood. It will be surprising if they last the ambulance ride."

"Let's hope they do." Bailey looks as if she was on the verge of crying. Obviously she was thinking about her own son, imagining him in that position. "Well, let's page Robbins." Bailey wiped her eyes and stood up straight. "If this is a kid, I want to do everything we possibly can to save them."

"I'll page her." Callie walked off, pulling her pager out of her pocket.

Meredith just stood there, not doing anything. She just couldn't wrap her mind around it. Sure. Mer had done her fair share of heroics, putting her hand on a bomb, offering to be shot. But, this was more than that. What Meredith did, was just plain stupid. What this kid did, it was amazing. How many other people could jump in front of a semi for a complete stranger?

Meredith couldn't do that.

There was another elephant in the room. Who was this kid and why were they outside in the middle of a blizzard? And, even if there was a legitimate reason for being outside, how did they see the semi, but April didn't?

Arizona entered the ER at a run. She was still wearing a scrub cap from the appendectomy she had just performed.

"What"s this page I got about a semi?" She asked no one in particular. Owen looked at Callie and gave her a small nod. Torres understood immediately, and took Arizona's hand. The two began to talk in the corner. Arizona's expressions almost completely mirrored Teddy'

"When should we expect the ambulance?" Derek looked at Meredith, intertwining his hand with was still deep in thought. He looked at her with an intense, blue gaze, trying to decipher what is gorgeous wife was thinking. She was generally a very closed off person, and it was very difficult to get anything out of her. "Mer!"

"Oh. Yeah. What?." Meredith mumbled. She didn't hear his question.

"I asked when the ambulance will get here."

"Right. Well, they called about..." A loud siren interrupted her thought. "Well, right now I guess!" she hollered as she ran out into the snow. Derek followed her with equal speed. FINALLY! Meredith thought as she awaited the rig.

The ambulance came to a stop right as the rest of the attendings made their way outside. The snow was now up to their calves, but none of them seemed to care. All they were focused on was the child in the back of the rig. Lisa, a paramedic, climbed out the front.

"Unidentified female. BP 70/45 and dropping." She yelled with urgency. "Unconscious in the field. Massive blood loss, extensive crush injuries, several broken bones, multiple puncture wounds, and obvious head trauma. " Lisa pulled her feet through the snow, towards the back of the rig. The door swung open and Owen grabbed the end of the gurney. He and the paramedic in the back lifted the stretcher up and placed it on the freezing ground.

They could barely see the patient because there was so much snow. The doctors each grabbed one side of the gurney and carried it inside the ER. They ran in and placed the patient on a bed. They were finally able to fully take in the extent of the child's injuries. None of them were prepared for what they saw.

None of them.

The girl was pale, almost white. Both of her legs were facing the wrong direction. Her leg was bent, and her femur was impaling her abdomen. Several large shards of metal and glass were lodged in her chest, back, arms, and legs. One shard was lodged directly where her heart was. Her left shoulder was popped out of place and her left hand was broken.

That wasn't the worst part.

When Lisa said head trauma, she was serious.

The girl's head was bashed in. The back of her head was dented. It was in the shape of a C. There was a gaping hole above her right ear, and you could see straight to her brain.

That still wasn't the worst part.

The girl could not have been older than 12.


	6. Now or Never

**Hope you like this chapter. I stayed up until 3 writing it. Forgive any misspellings or misuses of medical jargon. I am not a doctor, so don't know if I used it right. Please rate, review, and keep giving me your opinion on the names. I really appreciate it**

Owen was terrified.

Sure he had been in more dangerous positions. He was in Baghdad during wartime. He had been in explosions, firefights, dust storms, and floods. That made him nervous. Seeing a twelve year old girl mangled, bleeding, and on the verge of death, that left him terrified.

All the doctors just stood there, unsure of what do first. If they moved her the wrong way, she could bleed out and die. If they don't move her at all, she would still bleed out and die. They all looked at Owen, obviously thinking 'You're the trauma guy. What do we do?" But, honestly, Owen had no idea what to do. No idea at all.

He had to think of something to do, quick. This girl was falling, and falling fast.

"Alright." Hunt breathed. "Well, an MRI is obviously out, given our lack of time and the metal in her chest. Let's get an x-Ray in here to determine our course of action." They all stared at him. "Stat!" He yelled.

Mark ran out of the room. He returned about 30 seconds later with the portable x-Ray.

"Position it over her abdomen. Let's see the damage her femur did. Then, move it there her chest, then her brain. We'll get the pictures, and go from there." His fellow doctors nodded. Owen strapped on a protective vest while the rest left the room. He positioned the x-Ray as quickly as possible; the girl's BP was dropping fast.

"Alright. All clear." He hollered at the awaiting doctors. "Let's see those images. Meredith, run, do not walk, to radiology. Get those images. I don't care who you have to step on. Get them fast." Meredith took off at a sprint. "In the meantime, Derek, get some gauze for that head wound. Try and stop the bleeding. Torres, start an IV."

Derek raided the cabinets of the trauma room, grabbing as much gauze as possible. He pressed it to the gaping head wound, blood still pouring out of it. Callie grabbed an IV kit, and inserted the needle in her arm, her hands trembling. Bailey began to feel around the abdomen.

"Even without the pictures, I can tell she has severe internal injuries. Tenderness over McBurney's point. She's going to need an appendectomy. These shards have probably impaled her spleen, liver, kidney, maybe even more. It will be a miracle if she makes it through the next hour." Bailey continued pressing her stomach.

"Her legs are broken. I'll be surprised if she gets to keep the left leg." Torres gestured to the leg that was impaling her chest. "We'll have to pop that shoulder back to."

Mark looked at the girl's face. She had deep purple bruises around her eyes. Her nose was broken and swollen. Their were third degree burns on her cheek. Why was she burned? There could only be one explanation."Was there any fire at the crash sight?"

"Um, yeah." Callie remembered. "Lisa said that when the vehicles collided, it created a small fire. They took care of it quickly." That explained a lot. "Why?" She walked up to the girl's face.

"Well, Jane Doe here has several third degree burns on her neck and face. We'll need a skin graft. There may be more burns on the rest of her body."

"Yes she does." Bailey had rolled up the girl's shirt to examine further, and there were several burns all across her chest.

Meredith ran back into the ER, her hands full of pictures. She placed them against the light. What they saw made each of them even more terrified.

Crap. Owen thought.

"Her femur is impaling her abdomen, and it lodged itself in the top of her stomach. See," Owen pointed to the picture. "There's a lot of free fluid around there. Most of the shards missed her vital organs, except for this one, and this one." He pointed to the metal and glass shards that had pierced her liver and her right kidney. "We'll need to get in there right away." Hunt switched the X-rays.

"Oh God." Teddy whispered. "That metal shard is lodged right next to her aorta. It missed it by a hair. If that piece moves even a fraction, she'll bleed out in seconds. She has a few cracked ribs, from being crushed, and look there." She pointed at her rib cage. "This rib there is completely broken off from the rest of them."

"Let's see the head scans." Derek proceeded to once again change the images. Of course the brain guy wanted to see head scans. It's the reason he wakes up in the morning. All the doctors looked at the new scans.

And they had thought that the abdomen scans were bad.

"The hole above her ear is bleeding like crazy, but none of the tissue was punctured. Actually, it's kind of a good thing that the hole is there." What? Owen thought. How the heck is a hole in your skull a good thing? Derek must have sensed his confusion, because he continued with his analysis. "Look here." He said, pointing at the top of her skull. "Her skull has hit by a blunt object, and was dented. Severely dented. That caused her brain to start swelling. The hole provided some room for the brain to swell into, but if we don't relieve the pressure soon, she will hemorrhage and die." Derek finished his summary. He ran his hand through his hair and leaned against the file cabinet. The only sound in the room was they fast beeping of Jane Doe's heart rate monitor.

No matter what they did, there was a risk of her bleeding out and dying. What were they going to do?

"I have an idea." Meredith squeaked quietly, as if unsure of herself. But, seeing as no one else had any ideas, she went through with it. "What if we pull the femur out and straighten the leg? Then we could take her down to the OR. Derek will have to remove the top of her skull, to let her brain swell. While he does that, Hunt and Bailey could fix the problems in her stomach, and Teddy could remove the shard of metal from her chest. Torres could work on setting the bones. If, by some miracle, this girl lives, Mark can do the skin grafts after we are done."

That's a good idea! Owen thought.

"Alright let's do that. Grey go call the OR. Tell them we are coming down. The rest of us are going to set her leg back in place." Owen took charge, delegating jobs to his coworkers,

"Ok. Everyone grab hold of the leg. Mark, hold the girl in place. Now on my count,we are all going to pull the leg out, and lay it flat. Ready?" Torres looked around at her grimacing coworkers. Obviously they didn't like bones as much as she did. "One, two, three!" There was a nasty popping sound as they pulled the leg into place. Gently they placed her leg on the bed. It was still facing the wrong direction, but at least it wasn't stabbing her in the stomach.

"Grey, are they ready for us?" Owen looked over. Meredith nodded back at him. "Then let's go." Each doctor grabbed a side of the rolling bed, and started running.

The group began running down the hallway, towards the elevator. No one cared if people were in their way, they just pushed them aside. Several other doctors stopped and gawked at the sight of the mangled Jane Doe. One nurse literally knocked over a shelf in shock.

When they hit the elevator, it was full of people.

"Everybody out! Now!" Owen yelled, his voice rough and on edge. The elevator people did not need to be told twice. They pushed past each other, trying to get out of the way of the bed. The doctors clamored in and shifted anxiously the entire ride. When the elevator finally dinged and the doors opened, they practically sprinted out, almost knocking over Lexie, who was waiting for the elevator just outside. She looked like she was about to say something, but as soon as she saw Jane Doe, she shut her mouth.

"Which OR Mer?" Derek asked wildly.

"2!"

The pushed the bed through the hall, and into OR 2. There was already a staff of nurses on the OR, all of them scrubbed in and ready to go.

"What the hell happened to her?!" One of the scrub nurses looked as if she wants ready to gag. "How does someone get that messed up?"

"Hey." Mark yelled, startling the nurse. "This girl saved one of our doctor's lives. Show a little respect." That shut the nurse right up. "She was hit by a semi. Burst appendix, stabbed in the kidney and liver, a shard of metal next to her aorta. A severe brain bleed and swelling. Shattered femur and two broken fibias. And that's just the tip of the iceberg."

They transferred her carefully onto the operating table, making sure they didn't move any of the metal shards. They placed a piece of foam under her neck to prop her head up. The team began to drape Jane Doe's body. The hoard of doctors ran into the scrub room, and began to scrub in as quickly as possible.

"Do you think she's going to live?" Teddy whispered to Owen. He looked at and their eyes met. She was scared. Her eyes were welling with tears.

"I... I don't know." Owen responded. He wanted to do something. He wanted to hug Teddy. He wanted to help her, but he couldn't. Owen chose Cristina.

He chose Cristina. Teddy knew that.

Teddy seemed to pick up on this awkward moment, because she quickly looked away and finished scrubbing. Meredith and Derek pulled on their gloves and made their way to her head. Bailey quickly made her way to the girl's abdomen, careful to stand on the opposite side of the anesthesiologist, and her ex-boyfriend, Ben Warren. Owen took his place across from Bailey. Teddy stood next to him, their shoulders touching. Callie and Mark stood by her legs, ready to set the bones.

"Warren, is she out?" Owen turned to the anesthesiologist

"Yeah, she's out." He nodded.

"Then let's get going. If any of you are religious, say a prayer right now. We're going to need it." Owen looked at his team, all of them ready to start. "It's now or never. Boki, scalpel."


	7. Save Me

**Thanks for all the positive feedback. It makes my day when you guys give me compliments. I have to fly tomorrow, so I'll be doing a lot of writing then. Please enjoy this chapter. XOXO:)**

"It's now or never. Boki, scalpel."

Teddy's heart stopped beating as Owen made the first cut, right above the girl's stomach. Jane Doe's heart rate was still falling fast. She was running out of time. Owen plunged the knife into the girl.

Nothing exploded. Teddy thought. Her BP didn't plummet. That's a good thing.

He made the cut. The hard part's over.

Not likely.

Owen began to cut more, and he, with the help of Arizona, who ran in at the last minute, opened her up so that most of her organs were visible. Jane Doe's abdomen was a mess. Free fluid was everywhere. Blood was pouring out from behind her liver. The top of one of her kidneys was shredded a large hole was visible at the top of her stomach. Shards of metal were stuck all around. One was lodged in her liver, one in her stomach, a few in her large intestine, and a large onThane in her right kidney.

This was going to be the most difficult and intense surgery of Teddy's life.

This is going to be impossible and they were losing time. Much longer, and this girl would die. Teddy was scared.

Bailey got to work right away on removing the shards of metal from her organs, carefully pulling out the one in her stomach, than her liver, than her kidney. Hunt began to patch the large hole in her stomach.

"She's been bleeding internally for an hour. She's already lost at least half her blood volume." A nurse ran up and hung another liter of o-neg blood. "All we can do right now is damage control." Owen grimaced as he tried once again to patch the hole.

"All we can do now is remove the top of her skull." Derek informed the group, he and Meredith had begun to drill around her head. "After that, we have to wait for the swelling to go down before we can fix anything. All the work you guys do could mean nothing if her brain is damaged."

Teddy was scared of that thought. What if they could actually save this girl, but she stayed in a coma forever? Teddy had seen soldiers better off than this Jane Doe die from brain damage. It was a harsh reality.

"There is nothing we can do for this kidney." Dr. Bailey sighed, interrupting . " I'm going to have to take it out. Luckily, she can live without a kidney, but she can't live without a liver." Teddy looked at her liver, and it was already going brown. "I.." A loud beeping sound interrupted her.

Jane Doe's BP was dropping fast. 60/30, 55/27.

Damn it. Teddy couldn't think. Her mind was blank.

"Her pressure's dropping." Owen yelled. "She's lost too much blood. Her organs are shutting down."

Blood began to pool in her abdomen.

"Where is this blood coming from?" Bailey was flustered. She was digging all through her abdomen, trying to source the bleed.

"I found it." Arizona hollered. She pointed to a hole in Jane Doe's right kidney, the same one had said they had to take out. "It's her right kidney. Miranda, we have to take it out now." They two women made eye contact.

"Alright. Let's go." Bailey started to take out the kidney.

They had that kidney out in 5 minutes flat. That had to be a record! Teddy thought.

"Her BP is still dropping!" Mark screamed. He and Callie had just set the girl's right leg and had wrapped it in a mold for a cast. "What can we do?"

Teddy scanned the girl's body. Owen had patched the hole in her stomach. The kidney was out. What were they missing? What were they missing?

The shard next to her aorta.

"Teddy! Get that shard out of her chest, but don't slice the aorta." Owen yelled at the exact same moment that Teddy had thought of it. Her hands were trembling when Boki handed her the tweezers. Owen must have seen that because at the next moment, he addressed the rest of the surgeons. "Everybody. Get your hands out. If someone's bumps Teddy or the girl while she pulls out the shard or she will hit the aorta and the girl will bleed out and die. Hands out."

The other doctors obeyed, and pulled their hands out. All eyes were on Teddy as she moved in with shaking hands. Calm down. She told herself. Calm down. Teddy grabbed the top of the shard, and gently pulled it out.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The heart rate monitor began to beep loudly. Jane doe was falling fast.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Crap. Teddy thought. Did I hit the aorta? Did I kill this girl?

Owen thought the same thing.

"Teddy did you get the aorta?" He yelled at her crazily.

"No. There's no blood. I don't know what's happening!" Arizona butt in. Why was she falling? They got the kidney, liver, aorta, stomach. Kidney liver, aorta, stomach. What were they missing?

"It's her brain." Derek leaped up. "It's swelling to fast. We need to get her skull off now. It might even be too late." Derek and Meredith began to pull off the top of the skull. Her BP was dropping faster. 50/29, 47/27, 40/19. "There. I'm done." Derek and Meredith carefully placed her skull in a chilled box. "We'll put it back when the swelling goes down."

Jane Doe's BP was still dropping.

"Why is she still falling?" Bailey asked, turning to Hunt. The ginger shook his head.

"I don't know. I don't kn..." A loud noise interrupted him

Jane Doe flatlined.

"Damn it! Damn it!" Teddy yelled. "Get me the internal paddles." A nurse handed her the device. "Charge to 300. Clear!" She shocked the heart. Nothing happened. "Charge to 350. Clear!" Again, nothing happened. "400! Clear!" Teddy screamed this time as she shocked the heart. Nothing happened again.

Jane Doe was gone. This kid, this savior, was dead.

Callie began to cry. Derek just shook his head. Meredith leaned her head on Derek's shoulder. Everyone was in shock. This girl didn't deserve to die. Teddy looked up at the gallery. They had collected quite a large crowd for the short time they had been in there. Word travels fast in this hospital. Everyone in the gallery looked just as distraught as Teddy's fellow surgeons. Obviously they were pulling for the girl to.

"Time of death," Owen struggled to get the words out. They seemed caught in his throat, like he was choking on them. "Time of death 2,"

BEEP!

"2:4..."

BEEP!

There was a slight lift on the heart rate monitor. It showed a rhythm.

Jane Doe was alive. She had a heartbeat.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Everyone just stared at the screen, refusing to believe it. She couldn't believe alive, could she?

"She's alive. Sh..sh..she's alive!" Arizona was hyperventilating. She was trembling in the corner. The entire gallery was clapping, whooping, and hollering. Meredith and Derek gave each other a quick 'mask' kiss.

Jane Doe's BP began to equalize. Hell, it was stronger than when she first came in.

"What just happened?" Mark looked at Owen. Owe looked just as perplexed as he did.

"I have no idea. I, I truly don't know." Owen was still staring at the heart rate monitor, dumbfounded. "Sometimes, things like this just happen. The bleeding stops, and their heart starts beating. It's like a..a..a.."

"A miracle." Teddy finished his sentence. Everyone looked at her and nodded in agreement. Just for this moment, all the doctors forgot about everything that made sense, everything logical. It was a miracle. Nobody cared if it wasn't true. It was the only logical explanation.

Owen looked so happy that he could cry. He was smiling from ear to ear. You couldn't see it on his face, but it was in his eyes.

"Let's sew her up and take her to the ICU. If she stays this stable," Owen started, but was interrupted by Callie.

"If she stays this stable, I'll have to amputate her left leg." Callie said. That put a slight damper on the mood. "I am sorry, but there is absolutely nothing we can do. Her tibia, fibula, and not to mention her knee joint are all torn apart. We can salvage the femur, but nothing else."

At least she didn't die. Teddy thought. You can live without a leg. You can't live if you're, well, if you're dead.


	8. Breathe Again

**Hope y'all like this chapter. I'm going to write more after during my flight back from New York tomorrow. Please give me reviews, comments, tips, suggestions,etc. I love anything you guys tell me . It makes my day when you review.**

Jackson didn't know what to think.

He had been asleep in his bed, exhausted after a long 48 hour shift. He had been asleep for only about 30 minutes when he hit the call.

" ." He groggily said, wiping his face with his hand.

"Dr. Avery, this is Kyle Mullaney. I'm an intern. Dr. Hunt told me to call you and tell you that Dr. Kepner has suffered a concussion after narrowly missing a collision with a semi. " Jackson didn't hear the rest of the nervous interns words.

He didn't hear anything after the word semi.

"Wait, April was hit by a semi?" Jackson refused to believe. She couldn't be hurt, she just couldn't.

"Oh, no Dr. Avery! Not at all! I said April almost got hit by a semi. At the last minute someone pushed her out of the way. She has concussion from hitting her head on the pavement. " The intern quickly explained, assuring the resident that his friend was okay.

Thank God. Jackson thought to himself. She only has a concussion. If April had gotten seriously hurt, who knows what he would do. Even though she seemed annoying to other people, Jackson didn't want to live without that red head. That intelligent, competitive, sensitive feisty, beautiful, perfect red head.

"Why are you calling me?" Jackson asked wearily.

"You're her emergency contact, and Dr. Grey said that April would probably like for someone to be there when she wakes up. She's going to need a friend when she learns what happened."

It touched Jackson that he was April's emergency contact. She obviously cared about too. But, it was the latter part of the intern's statement that really confused Jackson. Why is she going to need a friend when she finds out what happened? And more importantly, what happened that is so serious? Jackson was about to ask the intern these questions when the other end of the line went dead.

PGreat. Jackson thought.

He pulled himself out of bed. Even though he was tired, he wanted to be there for April. Almost even more so than that, Jackson wanted to know what happened, and why the intern sounded so serious. Jackson pondered these things as he pulled on a pair of jeans and a soft cotton tee. He went to his closet and pulled out his heavy coat, and quietly crept down the stairs. Even though Alex was the only one home, Jackson knew that waking him up was a bad idea.

Silently, Jackson exited through the kitchen and made his way to the car. A thick layer of snow coated the road, but Jackson didn't care. April was more important. Cautiously, he got in the car and backed out of the driveway and slowly drove down the street. There was no traffic, one because there was snow everywhere, and two, nobody drives around at 1:00 in the morning.

Even though it took him twice as long as usual, Jackson more quickly than he thought he would.

Jackson ran into the ER where he met the 2 interns, pale and nervous.

"Where's Dr. Kepner? Where's April?" He looked around wildly.

"She's in trauma room 4." Jackson recognized the voice of the intern that called him. It belonged to a scrawny, brunette man, around 25 years old. His face was pale and sunken, it was clear he hadn't slept in a while.

"Thanks." Jackson began to walk away, but quickly stopped himself. He still had one question. "What did you mean when you said, 'She's not going to like what happened.'?" That question had haunted him the entire ride here.

"Oh well, um, right." Mullaney began. "I told you April was almost hit by the semi, but she was pushed out of the way at the last minute." Jackson nodded. "Well, the person that saved her, um, they got hit instead. They came in about 20 minutes after April did. And, to say they were hurt, would be the understatement of the century."

That confused Jackson even more. How badly was this person hurt? And, surgeons see trauma every day. What made this case so terrible? Why would it make April feel so bad? Jackson would just have to wait for those answers.

Jackson shook his head and walked away. He made his way to trauma room 4, preparing himself to see April

Every time he was around her, he forgot how to breathe and his mind went to mush. He lost his focus. The only thing. He focused on was her. Her face, her eyes, her body. Oh her body. Jackson's eyes always wandered to her body. They wandered to her beautiful curves. But, Jackson knew that April had her beliefs, and he would never push her to do something she didn't want to do.

When he walked into April's room, his mind was set at ease.

April wasn't badly hurt. She was just asleep in a bed. She wasn't hurt, dying, or dead. She was okay. He breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

April whimpered slightly in her sleep. April never made girly sounds like that. Jackson was going to use that as blackmail later.

Jackson took a seat in the chair next to her bed. He grabbed the remote a began to flip through the channels. Now he finally understood why patients were so bored. There was absolutely nothing on the TV. Nothing. Suddenly, he heard a rustling noise.

April was waking up.

"Hey there sleeping beauty." Jackson said with a smirk as he got up and went beside her head. Her beautiful eyes flickered open and wandered around the room. She looked confused. Her heart rate started to go up.

"Jackson, why am I in the hospital, in a bed?" She asked.

"It's okay. It's okay. You're alright. You just hit your head on the pavement." Jackson said, strategically leaving out the part about the semi, hoping she wouldn't remember it. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I,I,I remember a semi." She looked at Jackson quizzically.

Dang it. Jackson thought.

""Ok so," Jackson recounted the story the intern told him, leaving out the part about the really seriously injured person. He didn't want to stress her out. And, even if that person was seriously hurt, it wasn't April's fault.

"The person that saved me," April sat up in her bed. "are they in the hospital? Can I see them?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Uh, I don't really know." Jackson began to ramble.

Just then, one of the interns walked past her room.

"Hey you." April hollered to the man. He turned and stuck his head in the doorway. "The person who saved me, where are they?" The man looked at his shoes for a moment, as if deciding what to do.

"Well, we aren't really supposed to tell you." April's face fell. "But, you're a doctor here, and my superior, so I guess there's no harm in letting you see her."

"It was a girl?" April sounded upset. The intern quickly looked away.

"ICU room 27." He said quickly as he ran out of the room.

"Alright Jackson, help me get up. I want to go thank this person." April said, not seeming to hear the fact that the girl was in the ICU. April seemed to think that this person was perfectly fine, but Jackson knew otherwise. He knew that this woman was seriously hurt, almost on the brink of death. He didn't know how April would take it.

"I don't know if you want to do that." He told her, trying to push her down back into her bed.

"I do want to do that. You're not in charge of me." April pushed back. Dang. For a tiny girl, she was strong.

Jackson didn't want to fight her on this. If she wanted to do this to herself, she could. She was going to find out anyway, no matter what he did. She worked in this hospital too. He let her go and let her get up. She was still wearing the clothes she had worn that day. A gray hoodie, jeans, and black boots.

And Jackson thought she looked beautiful.

"Stop staring at me Avery." She gave him a mock glare as she walked out of the room. Jackson laughed lightly and ran after her. The two got on the elevator and went up.

Jackson joked with April the whole ride up. He forgot about the girl in the ICU bed that they were about to see.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The two stepped out onto the ICU floor and were immediately greeted by Meredith.

"Oh. April. You're awake." Her fellow doctor seemed flustered. Then her eyes got wide. "Why are you up here? Why is she up here Jackson?" The blonde doctor turned to Jackson, a scared look on her face. Jackson merely shrugged and looked at April.

"I wanted to thank my hero." April giggled looking around. "The intern said room 27. It's over there." She began to walk that way. Meredith gave Jackson a glare and chased after April.

"Hey. You don't want to do that." Meredith tried to stop April from going into her room. She grabbed April's arm, trying to pull her away. April's smile turned into a glare.

"Why the hell are you guys trying to stop me? All I want to do is thank someone for saving my life. Now let me go." She shook her arm free and stomped away towards the room. Obviously, she wasn't thinking about the injuries this girl could have. She wasn't thinking about how this girl was in the ICU. The ICU!

"Why did you let her upstairs?" Meredith whisper-yelled to Jackson, giving him a death stare.

"I couldn't stop her!" Jackson argued back. "She was persistent. Believe me, I tried to stop her."

Suddenly they heard a gasp of sure terror. The two doctors looked over at April, who was trembling. She had her hand over her mouth. She looked as if she was about to cry.

"What is it April?" Jackson worried, running over to his trembling friend.

April said nothing. She just pointed at the room she was looking at. Room 27, the room of her savior. Jackson looked in to see what she was pointing at.

Jackson understood why she was trembling.

He had expected an injured person. But he never expected this.


	9. Thank You

**I really hope you like this chapter. It wrote it on the plane today. Please give me your reviews, comments, tips, suggestion, criticisms, etc. It always makes my day when you give me feedback. Please enjoyXOXO**

April didn't believe what she saw.

She saw a kid, mangled and damaged, burns and bruises making her unrecognizable.

A kid with two snapped ankles, and one destroyed knee.

A kid who was missing the top of her skull.

A kid with her femur sticking out of her leg.

April refused to believe it.

The girl who saved her, was a kid? That was, that was, awful. It was truly awful. Nobody deserved to be in that position. Nobody should have their life ruined trying to save a complete and total stranger.

Jackson took April's trembling hand in his, but she quickly pulled away. She wanted to hold his hand. She needed to hold someone's hand, but April felt disgusting. She felt terrible. This kid was dying, because of her. It was her fault. It was her fault.

"April this isn't your fault." Jackson assured her, as if reading her thoughts. "They pushed you out of the way. They decided to get in the way, not you. It's not your fault." He looked into her eyes, trying to search for an answer from his best friend, but April just stood there, staring at the injured girl, a feeling of pure guilt washing over her.

"I need a minute." April said quietly. Just then April felt a burning sensation in her stomach. She ran away from Jackson and into the women's restroom. She went to the first stall she found, and puked her guts out. By now, April was starting to regret those last few beers at the bar earlier that night. Suddenly, she felt someone pull her hair back. Meredith has followed her into the bathroom.

"It's my fault Mer." April sighed after 5 solid minutes of pulling. She leaned against the stall door.

"No it's not April." Meredith gently told her.

"But that girl got hurt saving me." April was beginning to cry.

"It's still not your fault." Meredith said in a kind yet firm tone. "I put my hand on a bomb, in a body cavity, willing to blow up for this person. It's not the patient's fault that I put my hand in there. It was my own decision, and I was willing to accept the costs."

April was extremely confused. Meredith put her hand on a what? In a what? How had she not heard about this.

"It was before your time here." Meredith picked up on April's confusion. "I guess I haven't told you about the many times I've almost died." Meredith chuckled. A grin spread across April's face. That grin turned into a full smile, and that smile turned into a laugh. Meredith began to laugh too.

The two young doctors sat there on the floor of the bathroom, laughing.

"You do know, it's not your fault, right?" Meredith said seriously after several minutes of laughing.

"Yeah, I guess. Deep down inside," April wiped her eyes. "I know that it wasn't my fault, but part of feels terrible for that girl. And, I just needed someone to blame." She knew Meredith understood that. She and Meredith had become good friends after the shooting, and she usually knew what to say to calm her down.

"Come on. I need to sleep, and you need to get yourself cleaned up." Meredith held out a hand.

"Alright." April took her hand and pulled herself out. The two walked out of the bathroom.

"Oh. Why is Jackson your emergency contact?" Meredith said with a smirk.

"I...I..." April's face flushed and she struggled to find words. "Well, you know, we uh, we work together, and uh, we uh, we're friends and.."

Meredith simply shook her head. With a simple 'See you later.' Meredith walked off to the on-call room to sleep. April longed to follow her, but she knew she had to shower first. She smelled like gas, blood, and alcohol. Not a great combination.

April made her way to the locker room and quickly hopped in the shower. There very few people on-call in the middle of night, so nobody else was in the locker room. April scrubbed and scrubbed until she felt like she may be able to shine. She got out and put on a fresh pair of scrubs. She had thrown away the clothes she was wearing. They were drenched, and also smelled like alcohol.

Lexie walked into the locker room.

"Oh. April. You're awake." Lexie said happily. She sat down on a bench and let out an exhasporated sigh. "I am exhausted. Gotta love 36 hour shifts,"

"Why don't you go to an on-call room?" April asked.

"Oh I would love to." Lexie was annoyed. "But, there are some people, and I'm praying it's not my sister, who are having some very loud-"

"Okay then." April stopped her. "Don't need to know the details Lex."

"Sorry." Lexie smiled. The junior resident made her way into the restroom April had just vacated. Obviously, she needed a shower to.

April laughed lightly and left the locker room. She didn't know where she was going, but her feet carried her somewhere.

They carried her straight back to Jane Doe's room.

This time, Derek was outside.

"Hi ." April said quietly.

"Oh April, you're awake." He sounded sort of in a daze. Then, as if someone turned on he lights, he snapped out of his daze. "April, who let you up here? Do you know what happened? How did you know where to go?" He rambled on,

"It's okay. I was here earlier, I actually saw your wife. She and I had a pretty long talk." Derek was still looking at her Ike she might go crazy or cry or something like that. April picked up on hesitance. "I know what happened. It's truly awful." She sighed as she walked in front of the window and looked in at the girl.

"What's her name?" She asked Derek after a few moments. This girl saved her. She wanted to know her name.

"We don't know. For now, she is a Jane Doe." Derek said with a sad tone. The two just stood there, looking at the injured girl. Her heart rate was strong and her BP was low, but stable.

"Callie says she has to lose her left leg. It's a real shame."

April silently nodded her head.

"Do you think she'll wake up?" April asked him.

"Maybe. To be honest, I really don't know." He confessed. His face was sullen and weary. "Opi hope she does. I'm pulling for her."

"Yeah. Me to." April sighed. She spent a little more time looking at the girl. Then, a question came into her mind. Why was this girl outside in the middle of a blizzard? April hadn't seen anyone else out there. Why hadn't April seen the girl? And why had the girl seen the semi, but April didn't? There were too many unanswered questions.

"Well, I need to get some sleep." Derek yawned, interrupting her thoughts. "I truly am glad that you're okay April." Derek said with sincerity. He gave her a soft smile, and she returned it. He patted her shoulder and walked off. A few weeks ago, she would have melted if Derek Shepard had touched her. Now, she had her sights set on a different man.

A man April hoped had his sights set on her as well.

Suddenly, April made a bold decision.

She took a few shaky steps into Jane Doe's room. She took in all the details that she couldn't see from outside.

The room was quiet, except for the quiet beeping of her heart rate monitor. Jane doe had a bandage wrapped around her head. Her face was burned in multiple places, and the places that weren't burned, were covered in purple bruises. Her shoulder was dislocated and she had stitches all over her body.

April pulled a chair to the side of her bed. She took Jane Doe's hand in hers.

"Um. Hi." April said sheepishly. "I don't know if you can hear me, or if you are brain dead or what, but if you can, please listen. My name is April Kepner, and I'm the woman you saved. I wanted to say thank you." April's voice broke. "Thank you for saving my life. I didn't know that there was anyone in the world that was willing to die for me. It means so much to me. You don't even know."

April had started crying said, and she did 't care. She let the tears slip down her face, onto her neck. April sat there for a few minutes, listening to the heart rate monitor and holding the girl's hand.

Then, without a word, April stood up. She leaned over and kissed the girl on her forehead, the only place she wasn't burned.

"Thank you." April cried, some of her tears falling onto Jane Doe's face. "Thank you." April turned and began to walk out of the room, when she heard a noise.

"Hmmmgph..."

April's eyes widened as she heard the noise. A smile grew on her face as she turned to face Jane Doe.

"Someone page !" She yelled at the nurses outside the room."Tell him Jane Doe is awake."


	10. Eyes Open

**I really hope you like this new chapter! Please rate, review, comment, give me tips, ideas, or criticisms (sniffle sniffle). I love all feedback. Enjoy!**

Derek got out of bed so fast that he pushed Meredith off of it.

He snatched his blinking pager off the bedside table, hoping it would tell him exactly what he wanted it to. He wished silently in his head as he looked at it's small screen, reading the words it showed him.

JD AWAKE, it read.

A smiled burst onto Derek's face. It read exactly what he wanted it to.

He quickly pulled on his shirt. He kissed Meredith on the forehead as she climbed back into bed begrudgingly.

"Where are you going?" She yawned, lying back down.

"Jane Doe's awake." Derek couldn't contain the smile on his face. He wasn't happy, he was elated, and he had a reason to be. She wasn't brain dead. Score one for McDreamy!

"That's great!" Meredith gave him a small smile as she laid back down to sleep. "That's great." She whispered as she fell into sleep. Meredith began to snore her little piglet snore, the one she swore that she didn't do

"I can't believe I married you." Derek laughed lightly and quietly closed the door.

He ran, no, he sprinted, down the hallway, up the stairs, all the way to Jane Doe's room. Before he knew it, he was humming the tune to a song. He couldn't remember the words or even the title to the song, but it didn't matter. He was so happy that Jane Doe woke up, he didn't even care.

Derek said hi to everyone he passed on the way there, the nurses, patients, Mark, even the pissed off janitor cleaning up vomit in the hallway.

Derek's smile stayed plastered on his face the whole way to her room, and when he got there, he saw April outside of the room. Her eyes were glued to Jane Doe. She had a smile so big, it gave Derek's a run for his money. She was tapping her feet, obviously waiting for Derek, unaware that he was already there.

"Hey April." He said slowly, breaking her out of her trance. "I got your page." April turned and faced him head on. Derek got a good look at her and he saw tears pooled in the corners of her eyes.

"She woke up." April stated simply, happiness filling her voice. "She woke up."

"I know she did. That's why I got here as soon as possible. Let's go check her out." He told her with a smile as the two walked into the room.

Jane Doe was still lying down. She had pain written all over her face. Derek understood that. Her brain was exposed, she had staples in her stomach, and had two severely broken legs. She was careful not to put any weight on her dislocated shoulder. She was staring at the blank wall, not looking at the TV or the pictures, just staring at the wall.

"Hi. I'm Dr. Shepard." Derek flashed her a large smile. "I'm going to give you a quick exam."

The girl nodded.

He walked over and shined the flashlight in her eyes.

"Alright follow the light." He told her gently. She did as she was told, following the flashlight carefully with both of her eyes. Derek turned off the light and put it back in his pocket. "That's good." He turned to April. "Her pupils are alert and responsive. She can understand what we're saying. She seems really good. But there is still one thing I'm worried about." He added quickly, making April's smile falter.

"What is it?" She asked him.

"This." He walked back over to the girl, sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked away quickly, being sure not to make eye contact. "I'm going to ask you a series of questions." The girl nodded again. April was still confused

"Alright. Do you know where you are?" The girl nodded, pointing to the Seattle Grace Sign on the nightstand. "Do you know who you are?" The girl nodded. "Do you know what happened?" She nodded once again.

"That's what I was afraid of." Derek whispered to April as he stood up, his smile replaced with a frown.

"What is it?" April asked again, still not sure of what he was talking about.

"She hasn't said one word. Notice, when I asked her questions, she just nodded, or pointed. I'm worried that she was hit in the area of her brain that her speech skills are stored. I don't know if she knows how to speak." April finally understood. She was right. She hadn't said a word. What if she was seriously injured?

Suddenly, they heard a small noise from behind them. They both turned.

"I..." Jane Doe opened her mouth and a small squeak came out.

Derek and April moved closer to her, their eyes wide. They got to the edge of her bed, urging her to say more. The girl turned away from their intense gaze. She swallowed and tried again.

"I...I...I haven't said anything be..because I haven't had to say anything." She mumbled still not looking them in the eyes.

Derek smiled and April returned it with full force. Now they really knew she was okay. I mean, aside from her exposed brain, broken legs, stapled abdomen, and dislocated shoulder, she was okay. She could see, hear, talk, and remember everything. All her problems were physical and fixable.

The two walked out of her room, and closed the door quietly. They could barely stop themselves from tackling each other out of sheer joy. Derek looked ready to kiss someone, and April wanted to kiss someone, just not Derek.

"She's okay. She's okay." Derek was reassuring himself, as if trying to believe that it wasn't a dream.

"I know." April breathed. Tears welled in her eyes again. She had felt so terrible about this girl getting hit. Now, she knew that this girl was still in her right mind. She was still alive.

"Well, well, well." They heard a voice from around the corner. Mark walked up to them, a smirk on his face. "Do you feel like God?" He laughed at his fellow 'Mc' friend. He patted Derek on the back and pulled him into a side hug.

"It feels pretty damn good." Derek shot back, hitting his friend on the back in return.

Teddy ran into their little group,. She was running at a sprint.

"Ohh, sorry." She grumbled, her face looked sad. "Didn't see you there." She looked at Derek, and saw his face full of happiness, and instantly she looked confused. "Did I miss something?" She said as she looked at the other two's smiles.

"Well, uh..." Mark started but then gestured to Derek, allowing him to tell it.

"Jane Doe is awake. She has perfect hearing, memory, speech, and sight. She's okay." Derek seemed ready to burst with this information.

Teddy's mouth was ajar.

"She's okay? Awake? Really?" Teddy seemed like she didn't believe him.

" have a look." April gestured toward the girl's room

Teddy stared in amazement at the injured girl, who was now staring at a different patch of the wall. She was fiddling with the blanket in her hands. Now Teddy looked as if she would cry. She was holding her hands together, trying to stop shaking.

"Oh my God." She whispered. "I have to tell Owen!" She announced suddenly, breaking out of her trance. She picked up her phone and began to type away.

A woman with curly brown hair walked up to them, a bag slung over her shoulder and a clipboard in her hand. She wore a pair of high heels and a pants suit. She briskly walked to . She stuck out her hand to him.

"Dr. Shepard, I'm Kendall David. I'm from human resources. I came because of your Jane Doe." She gave him a smile.

"Of course. Just so you know, she doesn't like talking." Derek told her as he led her to Jane Doe's room. He opened the door and they walked in, and Kendall sat on the side of her bed, just like Derek had. She smiled at the girl, who still refused to look anyone in the eye.

"Hi. I'm Kendall." She told the girl softly. "I'd like to talk to you."

Derek decided that the girl would probably be more open with less people in the room, so he quietly slid out of the room. He watched through the windows with Mark and April, trying to read their lips. Kendall's expression didn't change, so they couldn't get a read on her.

"I bet she was running away. That's why she was outside." Mark commented. April looked disbelieving, and Derek agreed with her. This girl had a deeper story than that. He knew it.

Teddy came back, followed by Owen, who was smiling from ear to ear.

"I told you I wasn't lying." Teddy pushed him towards the window. Owen looked in at the girl and shook his head.

"Well I'll be damned." He chuckled. "Good work guys." He shook Derek's shoulder and gave Teddy a small side hug. Derek noticed that he was careful not to look at Teddy while hugging her. Owen looked up again, and finally seemed to notice April.

"Ah. Kepner! You're awake." His smile softened as he looked at her. His eyes were full of compassion and understanding. He seemed to be saying 'Are you okay?' with his eyes. April, seeing this action, responded.

"I'm okay. Truly I am." Her voice was cheerful. "I'm just glad she's alive."

"We all are." Callie came up behind them, holding hands with Arizona. They both looked extremely exhausted, but they were smiling none the less. "Word travels fast in this hospital. Soon, everyone will know about our 'miracle' patient."

"Miracle patient?" Teddy laughed. "That's crazy." Owen started laughing to. Then Arizona, the April, and soon, they were all laughing very loudly. They were all extremely tired, so most of this was just from lack of sleep, but they didn't care. All was right with the world in this moment, and nothing else mattered.

Until Kendall came into the hallway.

"Doctors." She announced interrupting their laughs. They all caught the breath and looked at her. "I'm afraid I have some bad news." Everybody's smile immediately left their face.

"What is it?" Owen whispered, his voice racked with worry.

"Well she told me her name. Her name is Natalie. But," she trailed off.

"But what?" Mark almost yelled.

"She matches the exact description of a Natalie that was in the foster care system a few years back. But that Natalie, the Natalie she matches the description of, she's supposed to have died a year ago."


	11. The Story of my Life

**I thought of this chapter during a wedding toady. Probably should have been paying attention to the happy couple, but my mind wanders. Please review, comment, give advice, ideas, etc.**

Calliope Iphegenia Torres had heard a lot of crazy things.

Callie didn't believe what she heard.

Jane Doe was supposed to be dead? Like,dead dead? What the hell?

Mark seemed to be reading her thoughts.

"What the hell?" He looked thoroughly confused, obviously thinking that his ears were deceiving him. As Callie looked around, she noticed that all the other doctors were just as confused as her. Derek's eyes were huge and Teddy's mouth was ajar.

"That girl told me that her name was Natalie. If so, she matches the description of a girl who went missing a year ago. After months of searching, we gave up and assumed she was dead." because Kendall tried to explain the best she could, her face was sullen and tired. Her voice was strained. "I guess we may have assumed too soon."

Callie was still having trouble wrapping her head around that. So, Jane Doe was really this Natalie girl who disappeared for no reason a year ago? And all of the sudden she's back? What? Just, what?

The only person who seemed to have understood Kendall's words was Derek. He was nodding slowly, digesting the information. His eyes were fleeting back and forth, as if he was doing a mental puzzle.

Mark still looked baffled and April was just staring into space. She seemed oblivious to everything around. She was in her own world, not listening to those around her.

"Well, at least now we know who she is." Derek had a fake smile. "We should contact her family. I am sure they will be thrilled that their daughter is alive and, not well, but alive none the less." Callie nodded. At least this girl now had a family to be with her during this hard time.

"But, that's the problem." Kendall brought the mood down again. "We know her name, but that's almost all we know. The reason I know who she is is because she was left at a firehouse when she was a day old. She's been in the foster care system all her life. She has no family."

Well that sucks. Callie thought.

For a moment there had been a glimmer of hope of a happy ending for this girl. She could have had a family, but all those dreams were doused, like a flame underwater. Any hopes that they had for this girl having a good life and recovery, went out the window.

"She's an orphan?" Owen was the first to speak.

"Yes. 16 different foster homes by the age of 10." Kendall nodded. "This girl has been through hell."

"And now she gets to go through more." Everyone turned to Arizona as she said the last line. "And, she gets to go through it with only one leg."

Oh crap! Callie thought. She had to take this girl's leg, this innocent girl's leg.

"Well, I'm sorry I don't have better news. I have an early appointment that I can't be late for." Kendall said, her voice full of sorrow. "I will come back later and I will try and find out everything I can about this girl." She nodded her head to each of the doctors and left.

Nobody knew what to do.

April began to cry again. Callie felt bad for her. April obviously felt responsible for this girl's injuries, and now she felt worse. Callie wanted to comfort her, she liked Kepner, but she didn't know what to say. None of them did.

Finally, the awkward silence was broken by Owen.

"Well, unfortunately, we know what we have to do now. Her BP and heart rat are stable, so..." He eyed Callie with a knowing expression.

"No. Now?" Callie didn't want to do it. "Can't we wait?"

"Yes, now." Owen told her sternly. His fierce gaze seemed to see into her soul. "The longer we wait, the leg will get infected. The infection will spread, and she may die. Do you want this girl to die Torres?"

Callie couldn't argue with that. She wanted this girl to live. But that was exactly why she didn't want to amputate the leg. She didn't want to mess up and hurt this girl even further, or even worse, kill her.

"Fine. I'll schedule an OR, but," she added quickly "I need to sleep." Everyone immediately looked at the clock. It was 4 am, and none of them had slept at all that night. Everyone quickly agreed, nobody wanted Callie to cut into this girl with no sleep.

"Alright, now somebody has to tell Jane D..I mean Natalie." Owen said with a somber expression. He looked around, trying to find a volunteer.

"I'll do it." Derek offered. Nobody objected. Callie wondered why he offered, but she didn't say anything. Maybe Derek just had nothing else to do. She didn't know.

"Okay. Everybody truly and sleep. We don't want to hurt anyone because of our stupidity." Owen shooed everyone away, and after everyone had left, he whispered to Derek. "I don't know why you want to talk to her, but please, try and make her feel safe. Something tells me that it wasn't an accident that she was hit." The ginger walked away.

Callie lagged behind, watching all this unfold. She was going to sleep, but she needed a minute to compose herself. She watched Derek push open the glass door to Natalie's room. He was breathing slowly, trying to calm himself. Natalie was still awake, but this time, she wasn't looking away. She was staring right at Derek. Callie walked up to the window to watch.

Derek sat on the edge of her bed.

"Hey Natalie." He smiled at her. She looked like she wanted to smile, but when she moved, all she managed to do was grimace. "I have some news for you."

"Let me guess." She said with a hint of amusement. "You have to amputate my leg?"

Derek just stood there opening and closing his mouth. Callie couldn't blame him. How had this girl known they were going to amputate her leg?

"I heard you guys talking." She explained. "You weren't exactly quiet." She giggled.

"Well that just got a whole lot easier." Derek breathed a sigh of relief. Callie laughed at his relieved expression. "But I have a question for you." He said in a serious tone.

Natalie nodded.

"Why were you outside during the blizzard?"

The girl got a very serious expression on her face.

She swallowed and told her story.

"I have been in foster homes my home life. I bounced around every few months. It was horrible. My foster parents were mean and didn't care about me. Nobody cared about me. So, I decided that I was done with it. In the middle of the night, I snuck out. I took 500 dollars from my foster mom's purse. Then, I just ran. I've been sleeping all throughout the city. In alleys, on benches, or, outside of bars."

"It just so happened that tonight, I was sleeping outside of the bar across from here. I was only a few feet from April. I saw the truck coming." She had begun to cry. "I knew that if I did nothing, she would get hit. And, in a split second I thought, what do you have to live for? That's when I realized, I have nothing to live for. I pushed April out of the way because I wanted to die. I wanted to die."

Tears were streaming down her face.

"So you can amputate my leg. It's just one other thing that I got taken away from me."

Now Derek was crying as he looked away from the girl. He finally noticed Callie staring at them through the window. He gave her a look that said 'Oh my God!' Callie nodded back, her eyes full of tears.

Derek turned back to the girl, and wiped his face with his sleeve. He laid a hand on her non injured shoulder. He gave her a watery smile.

"That's...that's..." He started.

"Stupid, dumb, idiotic, pathetic, weak?" Natalie had stopped crying and was now offering him ideas.

"Brave." Derek told her sternly. "Taking charge of your life and saving someone else's? That's bravery!" Natalie smiled and touched his hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you. That is one of the nicest things I've heard in a while." She smiled. "Except for maybe the drunk tough who gave me $100 because he said I looked like his sister." She added quickly.

Derek burst out laughing, so did Callie and Natalie. They all just stayed their, laughing.

"But seriously," Derek calmed down. "We do have to take your leg."

"It's okay. I understand. I'll learn to live with it." Natalie composed herself, and just from the way she was talking, Callie knew that she was telling the truth. Derek seemed to believe her to, because he stopped asking her.

"Well, will be performing your surgery." He pointed at Callie and She waved at at Natalie. Natalie nodded her head in acknowledgement. "If you have any questions, ask us, or one of the nurses." Natalie nodded again.

"Alright Dr. Shepard. I'm ok." Natalie shook his ha d off her shoulder. "You can go now. I'm tired." Derek nodded and got up. He tussled her hair and walked out, but before he left, he turned around to her.

"Natalie." She looked at him. "You can call me Derek."

"Alright, Derek." She smiled as he walked out.

Derek closed the door and walked over to Callie.

"Her story was..wow. I can't believe it." Callie said to him as he leaned against the window.

"I have a hard time comprehending it to. I mean, running away for your own good, living on the streets? It's not a life that anyone should have to live." He gave her a very serious look. "You better get some sleep Torres." He said. "I like this kid, and I want to make sure that've do everything we can do for her,"

He gave her a tired smile and walked off down the hallway.

Callie smiled and turned towards the on-call room. She wanted to be well rested, because she wanted to help this kid.

No matter what.


	12. Go It Alone

**Forgive the short chapter, but I hope this chapter fulfills some of your wishes. Please review, comment, critique, give ideas, give advice, etc. I love anything and everything you post on the review board. Plus, there is another plot twist that I don't think anyone will see coming. Dun dun DUNN!**

 _Callie smiled and turned towards the on call room. She wanted to be well rested, because she wanted to help this kid._

 _No matter what._

12 Hours Later

Meredith sat in the empty OR gallery, texting her husband about everything that just happened. Meredith had just sat through a 4 and a half hour surgery throat she had no interest in. She thought that orthopedics were boring and found no fun in sitting watching the procedure, but she loved her husband and did what was asked of her.

S _he's good. Callie just finished. Her BP is stable. They're taking her to post-op. Mark's going to start the skin grafts on her face while she's still out.-Mer_

Callie had just finished performing an above the knee amputation on Natalie. Meredith hadn't wanted to sit and watch the whole thing, but she had to. Derek had been pulled into an emergency craniotomy and would only do it if Meredith gave him hourly updates on Natalie's condition.

Meredith didn't know why Derek was so attached to this kid.

The surgery had gone flawlessly. Callie had been able to make a clean slice right above the left knee. It had taken a few hours, but they finally got her leg off. They sewed up the stump and set it in a makeshift cast, because the femur was still broken and it had to heal.

That's when Mark had suggested doing the skin grafts.

Meredith thought it was a good idea. Skin grafts hurt like hell, and she was sure that Natalie would rather get it done while she's unconscious. Meredith would. And apparently, so did Derek.

 _Good. I think that's a good idea. I'll be out soon. Hopefully I'll be there when she wakes up. Love you-Derek_

Meredith smiled at his text as she output her phone in the pocket of her white coat. She walked out of the gallery. She had been paged by a few minutes ago, and Meredith knew that she couldn't be late.

She ran down the hallway, stopping only to allow a girl on crutches to go through. She ran all the way through the hospital, past the ICU, past the waiting room, and right into the ER where she nearly collided with .

"Hey hey. Watch it." She snapped at Meredith. The tiny doctor looked at her with a steely gaze. "You look like hell." She added.

"Hey. I was saving the life of a little kid." Meredith defended herself. Dr. Bailey was right. Meredith did look like hell, but she would never admit to it.

"I don't need your excuses. I need your hands." told her, her face serious. "I need you and Yang to help me with a patient. His name is Elijah Dawson. He's been my patient for years, and he's coming in today for his 8th and hopefully last surgery to remove tumors from his stomach."

Cristina walked in. She looked well rested and refreshed, the exact opposite of Meredith. She eyed Meredith questioningly.

"You look like hell." Cristina told her.

"I do not. I was busy." Meredith retorted. "Sorry we didn't page you." She added quietly.

"No. I'm fine. I don't really want to be in..." Cristina trailed off. Meredith saw her eyes get clouded and she was obviously still scared of going into an OR. Meredith wondered if she would ever be ready to go back in. That was a question even Cristina couldn't answer.

"Enough chitchat." Bailey interrupted them, breaking Meredith's thoughts. "Elijah will be here any minute.I needed my two most capable residents on this case. That's why I chose you two."

Cristina started to say something, but Bailey interrupted her.

"Eh, eh, eh. Don't make me regret saying that." She stopped her. Putting her hand I front of Cristina's face.

Derek came up behind Meredith. He wrapped his hands around her waist and kissed her neck slowly. Meredith grabbed his hands and pulled him closer.

"Hey." He mumbled into her neck.

"Hi." She said back.

"Thanks for the updates on Natalie." He told her quietly, letting go of her waist.

"It's no problem, but why did you want me to do it?"

"I just, " he started. "I just feel bad for the kid." Meredith looked at him quizzically. "Dr. Bailey, could I borrow for a minute?" He pleaded with his big eyes.

"Have her back in ten minutes, ready to remove a tumor." She nodded with a very serious expression. Derek smiled and grabbed Meredith's hand, pulling her out of the ER and into an empty on-call room.

"What is it?" Meredith asked him.

"I learned her story." He said blankly.

"What?"

"I learned why she was out there last night." He explained. His wife nodded, urging him to continue with his story.

"I came in to talk to her, and tell her that we had to amputate her leg. And, she was fine with it."

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought when I heard her. But, then she explained her feelings to me. She had been in multiple foster, never stayed anywhere for long. She hated it. Anger foster parents beat her, neglected her, and the other kids did it to. Eventually she was sick of being controlled." Derek's eyes were misty.

"She took money from her foster mother and ran. She's been living on the street for a year or so."

Now Meredith's eyes were getting misty. This girl's story kind of reminded her of Alex, and he was one of her best friends. She knew how much foster care has messed him up. Foster care and getting hit by a truck? That was enough to destroy someone's life.

"That still doesn't explain why she was hit." Meredith pestered him to continue.

"Apparently she was sleeping outside of the bar last night. She saw the truck and then saw April. And you want to know what she thought?" He stopped. "She said she wanted to die. If she was going to die, she wanted to save someone in the process. That's why she saved April."

Now they were both crying.

"That'..." Meredith's reaction almost completely mirrored Derek's reaction.

"Brave." He finished her sentence.

"Brave." She repeated, her eyes deep in thought. She was staring into space, deep in thought. Derek wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a deep hug. The couple just stood there, embracing, absorbing what they had just heard.

"Meredith." He whispered into her hair.

"Yeah?" She responded quietly.

"That girl went through hell." His voice was shaky and Meredith could feel his tears falling onto her head. His hands were shaking as he held her in his arms. Something was wrong with him, and Meredith couldn't tell what it was.

"Yeah she did. We've all been through hell." She whispered back. She nodded her head.

"Yeah, but when we went through hell, we had someone there to help us through. I have you. You have me. This girl has nobody." He was crying and shaking even harder now. Meredith couldn't tell where he was going with this.

"Yeah. Yeah I guess I did."

"Nobody deserves to go through hell alone. Especially not somebody like Natalie. Someone who just doesn't deserve it. Life is just not fair."

"He was now making her hair wet with his tears. They were falling thick and fast off his cheeks and sliding onto her head, soaking the roots of her hair. He was squeezing her tightly with his arms, in a loving, almost protective sort of way. His hands were shaking. And Meredith couldn't see it, but he was nervously twisting his wedding ring on his finger.

"Are you okay Derek?" Meredith tried to soothe her husband, unsure of what was going on.

"I don't know why I care so much about this girl. I barely know her, she is 't my kid. There is no reason I should be this attached to her. I just, I just, am." His voice was barely more than a whisper as he let her go, slowly letting her slip out of their embrace.

Now Meredith could fully see his face.

His eyes were red and puffy, obviously from his crying. His lip was bulged in a slight frown, making him look distressed. He had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was looking at something far away. His hair, actually, his hair was still perfect. That's so annoying.

"What is it Derek?" She asked. Now she was getting worried.

"Never mind. I'm fine." He told her.

She knew he was lying. She could see it in his face.

"Derek Shepard. I am your wife. Now tell me what is wrong right now." Her voice got serious and her eyes narrowed. She wanted to know, now.

"Nobody deserves to be alone." He told her quietly.

"We've already established that." Meredith was starting to get impatient now. She was tapping her right foot intensively on the ground.

"What I mean is..." He mumbled something inaudible to Meredith. She shot him another look.

"What?"

"What I mean is, if Natalie makes it through this, if she survives," Meredith still had no idea where he was going with this. "she doesn't want to go back to foster care."

"So?" Meredith asked. "Why is it your problem?"

"It's my problem because Meredith," he looked at her seriously. He was no longer crying and his voice was steady. He stood up straight and looked her in the eyes. "I she survives, I want to adopt her Meredith. I want to adopt Natalie."

Meredith was not expecting that.


	13. Without You

**Hope y'all enjoy this new chapter.** ** _Italicized_** **text is a flashback! Please comment, review, give opinions, notes,etc. I love ALL feedback. I hope you like this chapter as much as me! ChowXOXO**

No matter how hard he tried, Derek couldn't stop thinking about her. He missed her eyes, her voice, and most of all, he missed her smile. Her rare, hard to find, beautiful smile that only he saw.

It had been three days since the big fight.

Three days without talking.

Three days without any jokes.

Three days without any kisses goodbye.

Three days without Meredith.

And it was three days too many for Derek.

 _He thought of all these things s he laid in Mark's spare bedroom. He repositioned himself on the satin sheets for the umpteenth time that night. Derek had just recently found out that he cannot sleep without Meredith in his bed. He had bags under his eyes, and his face was messy and unshaven._

 _He thought of the fight that they had had three days ago._

 _"I want to adopt Natalie." He told her, his heart racing with anxiety. Meredith was like a baby deer, she has to approach you, if you approach her, she'll spook. Derek didn't know if she was ready to take this step, but she was never ready for anything. He practically had to force her to get married._

 _"Wait, what?" Her mouth was open and her eyes were huge. She was trembling where she stood._

 _"I want to adopt her, Meredith." He said with an extremely serious tone to his voice._

 _Meredith stood there, staring into space. She was like a powder cake, ready to explode. She always exploded in these situations. The problem was, Derek never knew when she would go off._

 _Apparently, she was going to go off now._

They had run into each other at the hospital a few times, each time they quickly looked down to avoid eye contact and walked away from each other. One time that were both assigned to the same case, and Meredith had switched with Jackson. The most awkward moment was when the two were stuck alone in the elevator together, without speaking. That was hard.

He regretted springing the adoption thing on Meredith. However, he did not regret wanting to adopt Natalie. That poor girl deserved a family that would and could care for her. He knew that he and Meredith, or at least he, could do that.

His eyes wandered over to the small clock on the bedside table. 5:07 it read. Uuugh. He thought. Even though it was an hour before he was supposed to be at the hospital, he decided to get ready anyway.

The neurosurgeon rolled out of Mark's spare bed. He walked over to his bag and dug around until he found a clean shirt and jeans. The shirt was dark red with gray cuffs, the same shirt he had worn when he first met Meredith. He brought it close to his nose. It smelled like his wife's perfume. Why did everything he own remind him of her!

The soft cotton fabric was soft on his bare skin as he pulled the shirt on, trying to ignore the perfume. He pulled on his jeans and dug around once more for a pair of socks. He unbaked the and pulled them over his feet. Last to go on we're his shoes.

Eyeing his shoes, he noticed they were the pair that Meredith had given for his birthday. Aaagh!

" _What the hell Derek? I'm 28! 28! Do you think I'm ready to have a 12 year old daughter?" Meredith yelled at him, her eyes ablaze. "I want a baby, not a broken teenager!"_

 _"Don't call her broken." Derek yelled back, his volume matching hers. He was sure everyone outside could hear them, but he didn't care._

 _"But that's what she is!" Meredith spat back. "Think about it. She has one, one, leg. Her brain is open to the air. She had to have a kidney removed, not to mention the emotional trauma you get from being hit by a truck. Face it Derek, she's broken." Derek felt hot tears of anger rolling down his face._

 _"But that's why I think she would be good with us!"_

 _"What?"_

 _"Just think about it. She'll be at school the whole day. There is a bus stop down the street from our house. She can take care of herself until we get home!" He tried to reason with her, but he could tell Meredith wasn't having it._

 _"She only has one leg! She can't get around with only one leg! And.." She stopped Defek before he could interrupt her. "Even if she gets a prosthetic, what's to say she couldn't slip and fall, and not be able to get back up. What if she needs to go to the hospital, but she can't drive?"_

 _Derek refused to give in._

 _"Meredith, have you ever realized how many people live in our house? There is always someone at home. Always." His voice was getting louder as his emotions got wilder._

 _"Having a kid takes work! Money!" She spat back._

 _"Meredith, I make about a million dollars a year. Money is not an issue."_

 _"That's not the point! I still don't want to do it Derek.." She screamed. Now he was sure that the whole hospital could hear them._

 _"Well I want to." Derek was just pissed now. Meredith never put anybody else's feelings into the equation. She just did what wanted without caring about the effects._

 _"Oh. So now you're all powerful? All that matters is what you want to do? I hate to break it to you, but a marriage involves two people." Now Meredith had a different tone to her voice. It wasn't anger, it was hurt. She was hurt by what he said, and he could see it in her eyes._

 _"That's not what I meant and you know it." His voice had an apologetic note to it. He reached for her trembling hands, but she quickly pulled it away._

 _"Why are you so attached to this girl? Why do you want to adopt her?" Meredith asked him this question as tears welled in her eyes, her whole body trembling._

 _Derek took a deep breath and tried to speak, but the words formed in a clump in his throat and nothing came out. He swallowed and tried again._

 _"The reason I want to adopt her, out of all people, is because, she reminds me of you, Meredith." He looked straight into her eyes as they got wide with shock._

 _"What? What?" She jabbered, obviously confused by this._

 _"What I mean is, she's a fighter, like you. She's stubborn, feisty, and funny as hell. And, just like you, she went through hell, absolute living hell, and came out the other side. Just like you." He gave her a soft smile and looked into her eyes again, this time searching them for an answer. Her eyes were scared as if she didn't know what to say._

 _"I, I, I just don't know." Meredith's voice was shaky and her eyes were still huge. They flickered around the room, looking anywhere but Derek's piercing gaze."I need to get back to ." She said quickly, gathering himself. "I need some time." She whispered as opened the door._

 _"I'll give you as much time as you need." He whispered back, aware that people were in the hallway listening to them. She closed the door and Derek was left alone in the dark, empty room._

Derek remembered every detail of that fight, from Meredith's perfume to the way she looked at him when he suggested adoption.

He ate breakfast, cereal, as quietly as he possibly could. He didn't want to wake Mark, who had just finished a long shift. He put the empty bowl in the dishwasher and slipped out the door, careful to lock it behind him.

He wanted to talk to Meredith. He wanted nothing more than to grab her and kiss her and let her know that he truly cares about her. But he couldn't.

She needed to get over her insecurities. She needed to understand that Derek was in that place, he was ready. Derek wondered that, if she wasn't ready to have a family, maybe she would never be ready. Derek was absolutely ready. He couldn't wait forever.

He got in his car and drove down the street towards the hospital. Mark's place was only about a block from the hospital, but it was too cold to walk. Ice covered car and shop windows and a thick layer of snow coated the frozen ground, slowing gaining height.

The car slipped and slid on the ice that covered the whole road. No wonder that semi that hit Natalie spun off the road. In this weather, anybody could. He saw tire tracks on the sidewalk and a completely destroyed tree, and he knew that this was the place the semi sound off the road. He drove by this spot everyday, and, no matter how many times he did it, it still made him terribly uncomfortable and gave him a newfound respect for the brave girl.

Natalie was doing well. Derek had only gone to see her once in the past three days. It was too hard to talk to her without crying. She was still getting used to having only one leg, but Derek knew that she would be okay. She told him stories about her time on the streets and about how drunk people are very generous. Her shoulder was healing nicely, but she was going to have terrible scars all over her body, that was certain. The swelling in her brain has gone down, and they would be able to perform the surgery in the next week or so, a fact the Derek was very happy about.

It was obvious that people noticed the awkwardness between him and Meredith. Some people had tried to ask them about it, but quickly realized that their attempts were futile, and gave up. Most people just ignored the couple and Dr. Bailey yelled at them separately about their problems. But, in general, most people were too occupied with their own problems to care about them.

Derek parked his car in his normal spot and sprinted into the hospital.

It was still dark and most of the patients were still asleep, except for Natalie.

Natalie was always wide awake, watching TV in her room.

Derek knew that it would be hard, but he had to talk to her. He just had to.

He walked down the hallway past the lobby, and the burn unit, al the way to the post op rooms. She was supposed to be in Peds, but there were no empty beds, so she just stayed in post op. Just as he suspected, Natalie was wide awake in her room, watching the TV. She caught sight of him in the hallway, and flashed him a small smile. He returned the smile and opened her door.

"Hey Nat." He said.

"Hello there . In early this morning I see." She muted the television with the little remote

"I couldn't sleep. And I know that you never can, so I decided to come and talk to one of my favorite patients." He explained to the girl.

"Not just one of, your absolute most favorite patient of all time." She corrected him in a matter-of-fact tone, playfulness blazing in her eyes. For a girl with one leg and no family, she was very positive.

"I guess you're right." He smiled. "How are you feeling?" He said with a more serious tone looking at her face.

"I'm fine." She looked at him and saw that he did not believe her. "I'm serious Derek. I am okay. The pain is manageable with medication and, I'll learn to live with one leg. I thought people were sympathetic towards homeless kids, imagine how sympathetic they'll be towards a homeless kid with only one leg!"

She always found a way to make light of a serious situation.

"So I have a question for you." He told her. "Where do you go to school?" He seriously wanted to know. He wanted to know as much about his girl as he could.

The smile wiped off her face.

"Well, uh" she started. "Until about a year ago, I went to Seattle Public Jr High."

"You were in Jr. High, at age ten?"Derek interrupted her.

"I was bumped up two grades." She pointed at her head. "I have a photographic memory. So, as I was saying, I went to Seattle Public Jr. High. Then, when I finally ran away, I stopped going to school. I learned all I needed to know at the Library." She paused for a minute.

"I did that until the woman who worked there, Judy, noticed that I was there during school. I told her my story, and she took me under her wing. She understood my feeling. She was a foster kid too. She set me up with an online school on there computer in the basement. I've been going there for a year."

"That's different." Derek honestly didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't used to situations like that. He stared off into space thinking about Natalie.

"Hey Derek." Natalie broke him out of his trance.

"Uh?" He grunted, refocusing his gaze on the girl.

"I think someone wants to talk to you." She pointed at a person on the other side of the window. Derek turned and looked at the figure outside in the hallway. It was a beautiful, tiny blonde woman. His perfect, tiny, blonde woman. His wife, his Meredith, waving him into the hall.

He looked at Natalie and she motioned for him to leave. She had also noticed the animosity between them. Derek gave her a pat on the uninjured shoulder and walk-ran out of the room.

"What?" He asked his wife.

"I took some time to think about it." She said.

"So have I." He said quickly. "You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I promise."

She laughed lightly.

"That's just the thing, Derek." She cooed gently. "I thought about it, and I realized all that you said was true. I came to my senses. Let's adopt her." She had one of the biggest smiles Derek had ever seen on her face. He matched it with full force.

"So, we're really going to adopt her?" He asked.

"Yes we are."


	14. Hey Soul Sister

**Please forgive the short chapter. I am having some slight writers block. If you have any ideas, PLEASE give them to me. I need some help. I would love it if you would review, comment, criticize, etc. And, once again, PLEASE give me ideas. I need help. Please enjoy this new chapter. Lots of love-Olivia**

Five Days Later

Meredith stood there in front of Lexi, her happy face examining every inch of her little sister's face, scouring for a hint as to what the brunette was thinking. It had taken forever to track Lexi down. True, they had been together multiple times that week, but, Lexi later found out, that Meredith had not wanted to talk about this matter in front of their multiple roommates. Why she didn't, Lexi did not know. It had taken a while, but Meredith had finally cornered Lexi in the resident's lounge after everybody else left for rounds.

Lexi had no idea why her sister had been so set on talking to her alone. What could possibly be so important to her that she couldn't even tell her best friend, Cristina? Meredith told Cristina everything. Literally, everything. The two have sleepovers in the bed, while their husbands are in them for crying out loud! The fact that Meredith had refused to talk in front of her best friend, her twisted sister, really worried Lexi.

"Finally. I got you alone." Meredith breathed out a deep sigh of relief. She grabbed Lexi's hand and pulled her into an empty exam room. Lexi stumbled behind her, slightly scared to be alone with her sister. What the hell was going on? Meredith gently let go of Lexi and closed the door behind them. She quietly closed the blinds, making sure that nobody could see them talking.

Meredith turned to Lexi.

"I have to tell you something, extremely important." Meredith told her, a stern expression on her face. Her brow was creased, but her eyes were happy. It was really confusing. "You cannot tell a soul. Not a single soul, well except for Derek, of course."

Now Lexi was extremely scared. Part of her wanted to hear what Meredith had to say, and the other part was to nervous to listen. But, she had come this far, so she timidly shook her head, accepting the responsibility that Meredith was bestowing upon her.

"Okay. You know how Derek and I have been trying to get pregnant for a while now?" Meredith asked her expectantly.

Lexi's eyes got as wide as golf balls.

"No. I'm not pregnant." Meredith quickly added. cutting off what Lexi was about to say, obviously knowing where the brunette's mind was headed. "I still have a hostile uterus and life seems to absolutely and utterly hate me, but that is not the point. So, since Derek and I can't get pregnant, we decided on a different option."

Lexi looked at her skeptically. She was looking over every inch of her sister, as if trying to find something different. But, the only thing unnatural with Meredith was the large smile on her face.

Meredith rarely smiled, rarely.

"Derek and I have decided to adopt."

"Oh my gosh. Congratulations! I'm so happy for you two." Lexi was now smiling wide, showing all her teeth. But, her smile faltered when she noticed that Meredith was not done. "What is it?"

"The child that we decided to adopt," Meredith took a huge breath and swallowed. "Natalie, the girl who saved April's life."

Lexi was speechless.

S

P

E

E

C

H

L

E

S

S

She was now trying to digest what her sister, her nervous, unwilling to move forward, unwilling to commit sister, had just told her.

Meredith and Derek had decided that they were going to adopt Natalie.

Natalie, he twelve year old.

Natalie, the girl with one leg.

Natalie, the girl who saved April's life.

Natalie, who lived in the street.

Natalie, whom they had known for a week.

Alexandria Grey had heard some pretty crazy things in her life, but this topped her list.

She thought her ears were deceiving her.

"What?" She gaped at her sister, who was beaming from ear to ear. "You're going to a-adopt her? Natalie?" Lexi was convinced that she had heard it wrong. Surely they were going to adopt Natalie, a baby or at least a toddler, not an almost teenage girl?

Meredith just shook her head playfully, her smile still on her face.

"Yeah. We are." Her voice was full of excitement. Her eyes had an ecstatic glint to them. Lexi knew Meredith was genuinely happy about this, because Meredith never, ever smiled, let alone beamed. "We know it's sudden, and soon, but, I really like this girl and Derek really likes this girl and..." She trailed off, awkwardly looking at Lexi, as if expecting her to finish the statement. Lexi stared blankly at her.

"And?" Lexi pushed her older sister to continue.

"And she reminds me of you." Meredith said plainly, eyeing Lexi slightly. "I feel like she is what you were like when you were young. Except, you didn't live on the street and get hit by a truck." Meredith chuckled softly. Lexi just kept staring, not at anything in particular, just staring into space.

Meredith slapped Lexi's shoulder, knocking her out of her trance.

"Lexi?"

"Why does she remind you of me?" Lexi asked her quietly.

Meredith laughed again. "She skipped third and fourth grade, she has a photographic memory, she is extremely kind, and," she looked at Lexi with a goofy expression. "she's funny as hell."

Lexi looked like she was about to cry.

"You like her, because she's like me?" Lexi was touched. Completely and utterly touched. She never realized that Meredith cared that much about her. I mean, she knew that Meredith liked her, and they hung out together all the time, but this touched Lexi on another level.

This was something that real, true sisters did. Real, true sisters.

Meredith nodded her head slowly and looked into Lexi's stormy gray eyes. They were full of love and understanding.

"Of course I Lex. You're my sister. I love you."

"I never knew you cared about me that much." Lexi smiled, taking Meredith's tiny hand in hers and squeezed it tight. Meredith pulled her in, and wrapped Lexi in a hug. She wrapped her arms around the brunette and lightly squeezed her.

Lexi breathed deeply as the two stood there, soaking in the moment. They took in all the feelings in of that moment, the joy, the love, the sisterhood, the happiness. They drank in all they could, memorizing every detail they could.

"So, when are you going to tell Natalie?" Lexi asked, pulling out of the hug.

"Derek and I are going to tell her after we talk to the social workers. We can't adopt until tell us that we are ready. But that leads me to another thing." She gave Lexi a wary look. "Derek and I are moving out. We're moving to our new house in the woods."

"Oh." Lexi's smile faded. She knew that Derek and Meredith would move out eventually, but she hadn't expected it so soon. Suddenly, a multitude of thoughts flooded her mind. Would she have to move out? Would she be homeless? Would she have to live alone with Alex? Would she have to move back in with Mark?

Meredith seemed to sense her uncertainty, because she quickly answered Lexi's questions.

"You don't have to move out Lex." She quickly told her. "We want to give the house to you."

Lexi almost fell over.

"You're giving the house to me? Really?" Lexi wasn't really talking to Meredith. She was mostly just talking into space, trying to understand what Her sister had just said. She just zoned out of the conversation. A bomb could have gone off, and Lexi would not have moved. She was just fixated on what had just happened.

"Of course we want you to have the house. There is no one we'd rather have." Meredith put a hand on Lexi's shoulder and gave her a light shake. "But there is one thing you have to do. It is your choice of what to do with the others."

"The others?" Lexi was thoroughly confused.

"You know, April, Jackson, and Alex. It's your decision if they get to stay."

"Oh. Well, of course they can stay. I would never kick them out." Lexi quickly dismissed the idea of kicking her friends out. What kind of terrible person would she be if she kicked her friends out. An extremely terrible one is the answer.

"But, you can't tell anyone." Meredith said seriously. "Not a single soul."

"Why?"

"Because you are the first person we've told. The very first person."

"You haven't even told Cristina?" Lexi didn't believe that, because as she said earlier, those two told each other absolutely everything.

"Not even Cristina. You are the very first person I wanted to tell."

"Why?" She was starting to sound like a broken record.

"Because telling you, it, it, it just makes it, I don't know, real." The sincerity with which Meredith said this really told Lexi that she was serious.

"So, do you promise me that you will not tell anybody?"

"Don't worry Mer. Your secret is safe with me."


	15. Come What May

**I really hope you enjoy this new chapter. I think it's sweet and I hope you do to. Once again, please review, comment, criticize, give ideas, etc. I have a competition with a fellow author, and whichever one of us gets the most reviews on their new chapter wins a prize. I want to win! XOXO**

Meredith had been scared before.

She had been in a room with an unexploded bomb.

She had almost drowned.

Her mom had tried to kill herself, in front of her.

Her husband had almost died right next to her.

But now, Meredith was more scared than she had ever been in her life.

Meredith was scared as hell to meet the adoption agent.

Most people who adopted children were warm, smiley couples. They were couples who stayed home all day, putting every single ounce of energy they had into their children. They painted the walls of their houses different shades of yellow and white. The mothers knew how to pack lunches and make homemade Halloween costumes. The fathers knew how to play catch and play pretend. They were couples who wanted nothing more out of life than to raise a happy, healthy child.

That description certainly didn't apply to Meredith.

Meredith was usually moody and rarely smiled. She worked for 20 hours at a time, usually more. And, when she was at home, all Meredith wanted to do was have a beer and sleep. Meredith's house, the new one in the woods, was different shades of brown. Plain old, dusty brown. She new jack squat about packing lunches. Derek had tried to reason the Meredith could sew. She wasn't sure that skin and fabric were the same thing.

But, under her facade of fear and anxiety, Meredith was elated.

A year ago, if Derek had suggested adopting a twelve year old girl with one leg, Meredith would have run for the hills. Actually, no. She would have run to the nearest bar and downed as much tequila as possible before going back and breaking up with Derek. Now, meredith was a changed woman. Sure, she still wanted to down tequila, but then again, she always did.

Yet again, another quality that adoption agents did not look for.

Alcoholic surgeon mommies!

Just what every child wants!

"It'll be fine Mer." Derek grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight.

The couple sat in the waiting room of the adoption agency, anxiously waiting for their appointment with the agent. Meredith's eyes were focused on a picture on the opposite wall. It was of a happy family. The mother's eyes were a fierce blue, and were full of joy. She held a young child, maybe three or four, in her arms. Her husband had an arm wrapped around her waist, and his other hand was tussling the kid's hair.

Meredith despised perfect people like that.

Derek sat next to her. He held her tiny hand tightly and his knee was bouncing restlessly. Unlike Meredith's focused eyes, his were wild and were wandering everywhere. He looked from the reception desk, to the magazines not the table next to them, to the doors that lined the opposite wall.

Meredith was afraid that he would explode if they didn't get in there quickly.

Luckily, she didn't have to find out.

A perky blonde woman with quite a bit of makeup came out from behind one of the doors.

"Dr. Derek and uh, Dr. Meredith Shepard?" She called into the waiting room, her eyes roaming around to the multiple couples anxiously sitting in the green chairs. Derek shot straight up right away, pulling Meredith up with him.

"That's us." He told her.

"Great." said the blonde, way to enthusiastically. "If you could please follow me." She beckoned them with her hand and led them down a hallway, full of doors and pictures that resembled the one Meredith had been so focused on. "You can step right in that room there." she pointed at the door right net to them.

"Thank you." Derek smiled kindly and pushed open the door. Meredith stopped dead in her tracks. She wasn't ready for this. Her husband seemed to sense her this sudden rush of dread, because he quickly squeeze her hand tightly and looked her in the eyes.

"It will be okay." He whispered quietly, giving her an affectionate peck on the cheek before pulling them both through the door into the office.

It was a relatively small room. There were pro-adoption posters plastered all over the gray walls. There was a large window ,with a view of a nearby park, stood on the opposite wall from the door. There was a large desk on one side of the room. There were two chairs facing the desk. Pamphlets and files poured out from boxes and shelves all over the walls.

"Hello." The woman at the desk smiled at them. She had close cropped red hair and fiery green eyes. She wore a black pantsuit and a pair of tan wedges. She had her hands folded together on her desk. She smiled and gestured to the chairs opposite her. "Please take a seat."

Meredith sat down slowly, easing herself into the chair. Derek sat down next to her and smiled at the agent.

"My name is Leanne Morris." She told the. "And, I assume you are Dr. And Mrs. Shepard?" She asked them politely.

"Actually, it's Dr. Shepard and Grey." Derek explained to Leanne. "Since we're both doctors, it was easier for Meredith to keep her own last name."

"Ah." Leanne scribbled something on a sheet of paper that Meredith couldn't quite read. "Well, let's see. It says here that you want to adopt a Miss Natalie Dawes?" She looked at the couple expectantly.

"We didn't know that her last name was Dawes." Meredith told Leanne, without thinking about what she was saying.

"Well, every foster child with an unknown last name, in the city of Seattle, is given the last name of Dawes." Leanne explained. "So, how did the two of you come to know Natalie?"

"Well," Derek had promised Meredith that he would do all the talking, something that Meredith was extremely grateful for. "We actually met her when she came in as a patient. She was an emergency case, an extreme emergency case. We had to remove the top of her skull to allow room for her brain to swell."

"Really?" Leanne looked surprised. This was probably one of the weirdest ways a couple had met the child they wanted to adopt. Meredith was sure of that. "What happened to her, that made her such an emergency case?"

"She was hit by a truck." Leanne gasped as Derek told her the story. "She had run away from her foster home, and was sleeping outside of a bar three weeks ago, whenever that blizzard hit. There was a also an walking on the sidewalk next to her. Natalie watched as a truck skidded off the road, barreling straight towards the woman. Without thinking, she pushed the woman out of the way, and she got hit instead."

"When she came to the hospital, she was bent up like a pretzel. I mean, her leg was bent so that her femur was impaling her stomach. Her shoulder was dislocated. She had shards of glass penetrating one of her kidneys, her liver, and there was a gaping whole in her stomach from where we had pulled her femur out. She was covered in third degree burns. Her brain suffered trauma, and began to swell rapidly. Her left femur was completely shattered."

Leanne stared at him in utter shock and disbelief. Her mouth just opened and closed. Not a single sound escaped her lips. Meredith could practically see the words that she wanted to say

clumped in her throat. The agent slowly swallowed, and began to speak.

"That is serious. Um, how is she know?"

Meredith responded this time.

"She's doing, okay. I'm not going to say that she's okay, because she's not. She's not okay, and I don't blame her." Meredith felt a strong connection to the young girl. "We had to remove one of her kidneys. She only has half of a liver. We've been doing skin grafts on her burns, and most of those are healed, but skin grafts hurt like hell. I can't believe how strong she is. We had to remove the top of her skull, to make room for her brain to swell. We should be able to put it back sometime later this week. Unfortunately though, her left leg had to be amputated. Whenever her incisions heal, our fellow doctors, and us, will help fit her for a prosthetic.

Meredith couldn't tell who was more shocked to her answer, Leanne, who couldn't believe what had happened to Natalie, or Derek, who couldn't believe that Meredith had spoken up. Both of their jaws had fallen down to the floor.

Leanne sat there quietly for a minute, scribbling notes on her paper. Then, she broke the awkward silence.

"Okay. So, tell me a little bit about yourselves." She prompted.

"Well, obviously I'm a neurosurgeon. I grew up in New York, with four sisters, all of whom are also doctors. My father died when I was ten, and my mother raised all five of us by herself. I married a co worker, Addison Montgomery, but we divorced a few years ago. She cheated on me, with my best friend. I moved out here, to Seattle. And, that's when I met Meredith here. For me, it was love at first sight." Derek smiled as he recounted a short summary of his life.

Leanne looked expectantly at Meredith, asking for her story as well.

"Oh, okay. Well, I was raised by a single mother in Boston, even though I was born in Seattle. She was also a surgeon. I have a half sister, Lexi, who also works at Seattle Grace with us. Um, I'm still a resident, and I'm pursuing General Surgery, like my mother." Meredith gave her a short recount of her life, leaving out the bits that involved almost getting blown up, or drowning, or sleeping around Europe with her friend. She didn't really think that would make her seem like a better candidate for mother.

"Ah." Leanne continued to scribble furiously on her paper. "That brings me to another point. You two both have very demanding careers. How will you have time for a child, especially one with only one leg?"

That was a damn good question.

Luckily for Meredith, Derek answered first.

"Well, I have almost a month of vacation days stored up. If we get custody of her, I will take time off and help her settle into a new routine. Right now, she goes to school online. We will give her the option of going to public school, or continuing with the online curriculum. Whichever she chooses is fine." He smiled once again.

"Normally, since I'm an attending, my schedule is a little more normal than Meredith's. I usually work normal hours. If, by chance, both of us have to work through the night, I'm sure Natalie would be okay to stay by herself. If she needs to go somewhere, we have multiple friends that owe us favors." He added the last part with a light laugh. Meredith was jealous of his ability to talk to me people. He always knew just what to say.

"You seem to have put quite a bit of thought into this." Leanne chuckled, still scribbling. "You both seem extremely dedicated to adopting this child. Might I ask, why Natalie?"

"She reminds me of myself when I was little. She's been through a lot of stuff that nobody should have to deal with, especially at a young age. " Meredith answered before Derek could, impressed by her own boldness. "As Derek said, she is going through absolute hell, and nobody, nobody, should have to go through hell all alone"

Leanne sat there quietly.

"That was a very deep thing to say Meredith. Very deep indeed." She put her pen down on her desk, stopping her scribbling. "Now, I have one last question for you."

Derek nodded his head knowingly and Meredith leaned forward.

"Do you really think you can do this?"

Derek automatically said "Yes!", but Meredith hesitated with her answer.

"Do you want the truth?" Leanne nodded.

"The truth is: I do not know." Meredith said honestly. "I truly do not know if I am ready for this. I could be the best or the worst mother in the world. Who can tell? But, that's what parenting is about. It's about learning and growing with your child. It's about the mistakes and the bumps and the slip ups, and the bruises. It's about the love you share with your child and the relationship you form. Nobody is ever ready to become a parent, no matter how hard they try."

Leanne's eyes were misty and she had a soft expression of contempt on her face. A watery smile crept across her lips.

"That, Dr. Grey, is one of the most honest statements that any parent I've ever interviewed has given me. Most try to convince me that they are perfect, but not you. You told me that you were flawed, but that it's okay. You gave me your honest opinion. And I thank you for that, I truly do."

"That was beautiful." Derek chimed in. Meredith was unaware that he had taken her hand in his again, and he was gently squeezing it, in a loving, affectionate way.

"Well," Leanne looked at her watch, breaking the silence. "I have another meeting in five minutes. Thank you for coming in to talk to me today. I will get back to you as soon as possible."

She stood and extended her hand to Derek, and he shook it firmly. Meredith did the same. The couple smiled at the agent as they got up out of there chairs, walking towards the door.

"Dr. Grey." Leanne called lightly.

Meredith turned back around.

"I don't normally like getting people's hopes up, but I think you have a very good shot at getting this child." She had a note of truth in her voice, that convinced Meredith that she was sincere. "You may not be the normal parents to adopt a child, but you may damn well be the most serious I have ever met."

Meredith felt tears of joy we'll in her eyes.

"Thank you, Leanne."

"You're welcome." The agent responded as the couple exited the office.

Once they were out in the hall, Derek grabbed Meredith and pulled her close. Hey kissed her softly on the lips. Meredith took a mental picture of this moment.

Because at this moment, everything in the world was perfect.

PLEASE REVIEW! I WANT TO WIN!


	16. Fearless

**I have some serious writer's block. Please, o,ease, please help me! Give me ideas, or I will not be able to write anymore. I don't care how dumb you think they are. I like them all! Please review, comment, and give me help! Lots of Love, Olivia**

Derek's nerves were out of control. He couldn't really think right now, and he couldn't really feel his hands. Of course, though, he was a neurosurgeon, and he knew that his nerves were running in the exact order that they were intended to. But, it sure felt like they were out of control.

He was about to have one of the most important conversations of his life, and he was not sure if he was ready to do it. Hell, he wasn't sure if he would ever be ready for it.

Derek was waiting for Meredith to be done with her shift. She was in the middle of a splenectomy. They had decided to have the conversation an hour ago, but Derek was sure that Meredith had joined the case just to postpone us.

Derek's hands were trembling. He paced back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, in the attending's lounge, working up the courage to have the conversation. He didn't know why he was so nervous, he just was.

Mark just sat and watched his best friend slowly unravel, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Calm down, man. It's going to be fine." Mark tried to reassure him, but he was failing, miserably.. "I bet you weren't this nervous when you told everyone else." Derek let out a husky laugh and rolled his eyes at his friend.

By now, most of the hospital knew that he and Meredith wanted to adopt Natalie. No surprise there. Big news, secrets, embarrassing stories, things like that, never stayed quiet for long. Even though Lexi hadn't told anyone, Mark, on the other hand, hadn't been quite as silent,

It had been three weeks ago that he had decided to tell Mark about the adoption. And then, not even ten minutes later, Derek had found him gossiping about it to Callie. Callie, then, proceeded to tell Arizona. Arizona then told Teddy. And then, Teddy told Owen. Owen, well, who the hell knows who Owen told. A few days later, every single person in the hospital knew about the adoption. Everyone. Even a patient in the maternity ward congratulated Meredith while she was on the OB rotation.

Let's just say, news travels fast.

Now the only person they needed to tell was Natalie herself.

Which brought Derek back to why he was so nervous in the first place.

Everyone had been extremely supportive when they had heard the news. Although, most people had been completely shocked, and Derek couldn't blame them. He and Meredith didn't really fit the adoptive parent stereotype.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who's trying to adopt a child." Derek shot back at him. Mark gave him a knowing nod and chuckled.

"And," Derek added with another thought. "You already have a kid. Even if you couldn't adopt, you'd still have one."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute there." Mark stopped him, his eyes wide. "I have a twenty year old daughter, who also has her own kid. I wasn't there for any of her life, and probably won't be there for any more of it. What you he want and what I have, not the same thing." He made a point to emphasize the word not. "Not the same thing at all."

Derek instantly regretted his statement. He knew that Mark was always very touchy in the subject of Sloan. Before she came, Mark's life had been great. He had had a great job, great friends, and Lexi. Then, one day, Sloan walked into his life. Within a matter of months, Mark had lost his daughter, his grandson, and most importantly, Lexi.

He never liked to talk about it.

"Sorry man. I didn't mean it." Derek apologized.

"It's fine." Mark said coolly. "I get what you're saying. But listen to me, you don't have to be so nervous. What's the worst that could happen?"

"She could say no." Derek looked at his feet. Mark laughed.

"That's what you're worried about? Seriously? What do you think is going to happen? 'Hi Natalie. I'm a millionaire world class neurosurgeon and my wife is a hot general surgeon. We would like to adopt you. That's okay right?' 'No thank you. I'd rather go back to living outside of bars, mooching off drunk people.'"

"This is serious." Derek tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't mask the small smile growing on his lips.

Just then, Meredith walked in. Her hands were trembling, just like Derek's, but there was something odd about her. She had a glow of confidence around her. Meredith was never confident.

Ever.

Derek wondered why this case was different.

"You ready?" She glanced at him.

Derek shot a look at Mark. He did have a point, he thought. What was Natalie going to say? No?

That's not what Derek was afraid of though. He was afraid that she would say yes out of obligation, not out of true choice. The idea of almost holding someone against their will, that idea scared the hell out of him.

"I guess so." He choked out, his worries playing over and over in his head, like a broken record. It was now or never, he thought.

Meredith extended a hand. "Then let's go." She smiled. He took her hand gently and she led him out into the hall. Meredith had never been the bold one of the couple, but today, it was all her. Derek was cowering behind his wife like a scared child behind it's mother's legs.

The attending's lounge was only down the hall from Natalie's room, so Derek wasn't given much time to compose himself, before he found himself outside of Natalie's door.

The girl was watching a movie on the television. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Derek recognized. She was going to fit in well in their family. She didn't seem to optics the duo outside of her door, so she continued with her movie. Derek and Meredith stood there for a few minutes, watching her yell things at the characters.

"What's it matter? You're both gonna die!" She yelled at a cowboy who had just stolen some money.

"Are you sure that you are ready?" Meredith asked him gently, laying her head on his shoulder. She snuggled close to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He could feel her warm breath on his skin, and he could sense her steady heartbeat. This comforted Derek slightly, and he allowed himself to relax. Everything is going to be okay. He thought calmly. He lifted his wife's chi off of his shoulder and kissed her slowly. They had a few moments of bliss before..

"Get a room, you two. And, preferably not one next to mine."

It seems that Natalie had finally noticed them.

Meredith and Derek stayed lip lockers for a few more moments, drinking in every detail they could, before Natalie spoke up again.

"Are you to going to make out in the hallway all day, because if you are,I'm going to pull my blinds down."

Meredith began to pull away from Derek, mainly because she was laughing so hard. Derek shook lightly with laughter to. He was right. Natalie would definitely fit in well with them.

"Sorry Nat." He turned a gave the girl a large smile. She grinned back brushing a stray brown hair away from her eyes. "But I just can't help myself sometimes." She laughed as he kissed Meredith once more, before finally letting her go.

"Trust me Dere. Everybody knows that. I mean everybody."

Meredith rolled her eyes as she pulled open the door and quietly stepped inside. Derek took a deep breath. He was starting a family, right here, right now. There was no going back. He was tempted to run, to go back to the lounge and sleep off his troubles. But, Meredith seemed to sense his apprehension, because slowly, her gray eyes made contact with his, and she grasped his hand firmly and pulled him into the room.

Damn, she was strong.

"So, what are you guys doing here, aside from making out?" She raised an eyebrow at them questioningly. There was a hint of amusement in her voice. She pulled up her legs, allowing room for Meredith to sit by her.

Over the past three weeks, Meredith and Natalie had gotten extremely close. Derek ventured to guess that it was probably because of their multiple near-death experiences they both faced. But then again, that was just his opinion.

The two had been hanging out every spare minute the Meredith had to spare. They would hang out with one another in Natalie's room. They would talk, laugh, joke, and tell each other stories. Meredith, from these hang outs, learned many things about Natalie, including her age and her the stories of her life on the street. She turns 12 soon.

Natalie's wounds had been healing nicely. She was still unable to get up, her inside wounds were not fully healed yet. She had been dealing quite nicely for someone who had lost a leg. Her brain swelling had gone down, and Derek would soon be able to sew her skull back on.

She had become very good friends with the hospital personnel. She was particularly close to Lexie and April. The two often ate their lunch with the girl in her bedroom. She and Lexie both had photographic memories. And Natalie and April, they had a bond that couldn't be explained. The two seemed to have a bond, an unspoken bond. Maybe when someone saves your life, you develop some relationship. Derek didn't really know.

Meredith reached out a hand and tucked the strand of hair behind her ear. She dragged her thumb across the top of Natalie's cheek and poked her gently on the nose.

"We want to talk to you about something." Meredith told her sincerely. She tilted Natalie's head up and the two made eye contact for a moment.

"Okay." Natalie said, pulling her face away from Meredith, her eyes full of concern. "It sounds serious. What is it?"

Meredith turned to Derek. She gave him a pointed glance and jerked her head slightly towards Natalie. Derek looked at his wife, dumbfounded. What was she getting at? He thought. She new that he wasn't good at reading people.

Meredith cleared her throat loudly, startling Derek out of his trance. She gestured once again towards the girl, this time more obviously. Natalie even picked up on this faster than he did.

"Dude. She's trying to get me to tell you something." Natalie told him slowly, adding hand gestures for dramatic effect.

"Oh. Right." Derek finally got it.

Derek stood up straight. He put his hand on Meredith's shoulder, for literal and moral support. Derek swallowed and steadied his breath. This was a moment that was going to change his life forever.

He stared directly at Natalie.

"Natalie, we've heard your story. We've heard about the foster homes, and you living in the street. And," he shot a glance at Meredith. She gave him a gentle smile. Meredith placed her hand on top of his, and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"We don't think that you should have to go back to that." She told Natalie, who looked extremely confused.

Now Natalie was the slow one.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"What I mean is, Natalie," he swallowed one last time. "Meredith and I would like to adopt you."

She looked at him with utter shock.

"That is not what I expected."


	17. We Are Family

**Thank you you to all of my wonderful followers. Your comments truly make my day, sorry about the hiatus and the short chapter. I really hope you all enjoy it! Please rate, review, comment, criticize, and PM me. i love all feedback, no matter what. EnjoyXOXO**

 **Sadly, I don't own any of Grey's Anatomy. (Yet)**

3 years ago

"How many foster homes have you been in?" Mrs. Sedalia gave Natalie an over enthusiastic smile. This seemed to be a routine for her. She would get to know a child's history and use it to help her care for them.

"This will make 12." Natalie said back quietly, her voice only slightly more than a whisper. "This is the third one I've been in since the move to Seattle." Her hands were trembling in her lap. She was clicking her heels together softly, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, except, Natalie didn't have a home to wish for. All she had was the clothes on her back and the stuff in her suitcase.

Natalie was 9 years old, and had been through quite a bit. Her parents had been killed in a car wreck when she was barely a year old. She had bounced around through foster care almost her entire life, never staying anywhere for more than a year. No matter what she did, nobody seemed to want to adopt her.

Present

"You guys want to adopt me." Natalie looked at the two surgeons with a look of utter disbelief. "Really? Me?" Her voice was skeptical, as if Meredith and Derek were playing an elaborate prank on her. No way. Natalie thought to herself.

"Yes. We want to adopt you." Meredith spoke kindly, giving Natalie a gentle smile. A smile that crept slowly around the corners of her mouth, and slowly made it's way all over, causing Meredith to flash her teeth. It was the kind of smile that Natalie loved.

"Adopt." Natalie rolled the word around in her mouth, as if making sure that she was saying it right. The truth was, Natalie liked the way that word felt coming out of her mouth. It comforted her, gave her hope.

"That's right."

"Not foster, or just take care of me."

"Nope we're going the full mile." This time Derek spoke, his voice kind like Meredith's.

"Like, full on, change my last name, have parents, have you guys pay for my insurance and my college kind of adopt?"

"Of course." Derek lightly shook Natalie's shoulder, making sure that it was the good one and not the one she had injured in the wreck.

3 years ago

"Welcome to your new home Natasha!" Mrs. Sedalia gave Natalie a toothy grin as she unlocked the front door to her house.

"It's Natalie." Natalie corrected her quietly.

""What was that?" Mrs. Sedalia was still preoccupied with the lock to notice her quiet voice.

"It's Natalie. My name is Natalie." She corrected her again.

"Oh, sorry about that sweety!" Mrs. Sedalia said ever so fakely as she finally managed to get the door open. She pushed the heavy door open to reveal the inside of the house.

There was a long hallway just inside the house. A set of stairs went up just a few feet from the door. The hallway led to a large, open concept kitchen. The whole floor was covered with worn hardwood. Pictures of flowers and beaches and smiling people hung on the cream colored walls. Everything in here was perky and hope inspiring. I hated it.

"Your room is just upstairs dear. Second door on the left." Mrs. Sedalia was just sounding more and more fake every minute. Why were foster parents always so annoying to me? They would always give her hope of adoption and a real family, but they never came through.

"Oh. Okay." I said trying to give her a smile. She seemed to believe the weak attempt at gratitude and smiled even larger.

"It's late." She told me. "Why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep and get settled. I know you already ate, dear."

"Great!" I tried to keep my sarcasm to a minimum. Little did she know that as soon as she went to bed, I was going to leave.

Not just leave this house, but leave the system.

I wasn't going to be a foster child anymore.

Present

"So, uh, what do you say?" Meredith said, snapping Natalie out of her memory.

"What?" I didn't hear you. Natalie thought

"Would you like to legally become our child?"

Natalie already new the answer to that. She knew it as soon as they asked. She loved Meredith and Derek. They weren't like other adoptive parents. They weren't all fake and smiley. They didn't promise sunshine and rainbows. Well, Derek was usually happy, but Meredith was kind of the opposite of rainbows. She was caring and she was intense, and Natalie loved it. They told the truth. They didn't sugar coat. They were surgeons. And Natalie loved them for it.

"Yes." Natalie told them with a giant smile. "Of course I would."

"Really?" Derek sounded surprised, like he didn't believe her. "Like, really?"

"Yes. Really means yes." Natalie rolled her eyes. "How did they let you become a surgeon. You're so slow!"

Meredith laughed aloud at this comment. Derek took his hand off Natalie's shoulder, giving her a look of mock hurt. "Wow. That was cold. I mean really cold. One would think my daughter would have a little respect for me!" This just made Meredith laugh even louder, but Natalie stopped laughing.

"Daughter" she whispered to herself. This word was almost as strange as adopt. She was about to be part of a family. She was about to be someone's child, someone's DAUGHTER. It was quite honestly a little terrifying.

What if they didn't like her outside of the hospital? What if Meredith and Derek had other children and they decided that they didn't want me anymore? What if I was awful at being a part of their family? What if my wounds open up again and I had to have more surgery? What if they realized that having a kid with one leg was too hard on them and sent me back?

What if?

What if?

"Now you can't come home with us right away." Derek said, not even noticing that I had zoned out completely. "Torres wants to keep an eye on your leg. She says that you are going to get fitted for the prosthetic leg soon."

"Really?" Natalie was shocked. She didn't expect to get the leg so soon. Some people had to wait quite a while for prosthetics. Natalie knew these kinds of things from listening to doctors speaking at the nurse's station. She knew that some people never felt comfortable with their new legs and just lived with a stump. Some people got phantom limb pain and went slightly crazy. Some even cut off their good legs just to feel normal.

Knowing Nat's luck, something like that was going to happen to her.

She just knew it in her gut.

"Yeah. Torres has you at the top of the list. You're sort of like her VIP." Meredith said jokingly, brushing a hair out of Natalie's pale face. "She likes you, you know."

"Well, I like her a lot too."

A loud beeping noise interrupted our little family conversation. Derek looked down at his pager, which was flashing the words ER 911. "Oh. I gotta run." He said quickly standing up off the bed, making it groan with the shift of the wait.

"I have to go check on my patients." Meredith said after, standing up too. They both turned and looked at me with loving eyes. "See you later Nat."

"Thank you for joining our little family." Derek said softly.

Then he did something Natalie had not expected.

Slowly, Derek leaned forward and kissed her gently on the top of her head, causing the girl to blush slightly.

"We love you Natalie. I hope you know that."

"I know."


	18. It's Time

**Sorry for for the short chapter! Just a bit of fluffy in between that I wanted to write down. Serious stuff is coming later! Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Please review, comment, or give me any feedback at all!**

 **And a HUGE thank you to ashmo2000, Patsy, and roganjalex for their comments on almost all off my chapters and for being there since chapter one! Your feedback makes my day!**

Today was the day it got real.

Today was the day that Derek and Meredith started a family.

Today was the day that they got a daughter.

Today was the day that they signed the adoption papers.

Today they got to take Natalie home.

Today was a crazy da

Meredith was Scared. As. Hell.

She was so scared in fact, that this morning she had spent almost half an hour hurling into the toilet. She just couldn't keep anything down. Her stomach felt like it was twisted into knots in her abdomen. Her throat was burning and her breath was absolutely vile. She had Derek had just finished moving to the house in the woods this morning, and now the master bathroom already smelled horrid.

They had to make a few changes to the house before Natalie arrived. Derek had built a wheelchair ramp up to the deck. She was just learning how to use her prosthetic and still used the chair for the majority of her movement. They also put a seat in Natalie's shower in her bathroom, to help her shower with only one leg.

They had finally set everything up this morning. They had even set up a room for Natalie. They walls were a light turquoise color and the bedding was gray. She had a white bed, desk, and a chest of drawers. They even got her her own personal computer. Before the accident, she had been enrolled in an online school before the accident, she and Derek had decided to let her continue with this type of schooling. Plus, Natalie didn't make friends very easily in the first place. And now it would be even harder to get people to like her. It was like, Hey! Who wants to be Best Friends with the weird girl with one leg? Anyone? Anyone?

That was another thing that Meredith liked about Natalie.

Natalie wasn't happy, and cheery, and extremely outgoing. She was quiet, if you didn't know her. She wasn't happy. Too much crap had happened to her in the past for her to be happy all the time. She was only happy when there was something to be happy about.

She was almost like a mini copy of Meredith. Same weird quirks. Same rare smile. Same snarky comments. She even had the same dirty blonde hair. They were like twins.

Of course, Meredith hoped that Natalie didn't have as much of a friendship with tequila as she did.

Never mind. That was impossible. No one had as much of a friendship with tequila as Meredith Grey.

Meredith sat shotgun in the front seat of their Porsche. She was nervously tapping her fingers on her thighs. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Where the hell was Derek? They were going to the hospital to pick up Natalie this morning. They were going to be late. Her first day as an official mother and she was going to be late. Awesome.

That was what the rest of her life was going to be like.

"Derek!" She hollered. "Get your ass out here!"

Her husband came running out of the house, his hair grossly perfect. Today's newspaper was in his hand. So that's what he'd been doing.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Derek told her. He buckled himself in the driver's seat, and placed the key in the ignition. The engine purred to life with a loud rumble.

"You should be! You're going to make us late!" She yelled at him angrily. "We are going to seem like awful parents. Late for our first day!"

"Like I said, I'm sorry." Derek rolled his eyes at Meredith's irritated glare. "I got a little distracted by the newspaper." He said as he began to drive slowly out of the driveway.

"What?" Meredith asked. "Why?"

"Read the cover story!" He threw the paper at her lap. Meredith caught it and slowly lifted it up.

"Why Derek? What is so interesting that y-Oh my God!" Meredith's blue eyes got absolutely huge as she read the cover story on the paper. It read 'Homeless Samaritan Adopted by Doctors' "This….this…,this is about us, and..and..and Natalie."

Meredith turned to her husband and stared at him, absolutely shocked.

"I know." Derek told her. "It's crazy. Read it!"

"Okay." Meredith said, clearing her throat. "Six months ago, a Jane Doe saved the life of Dr. April Kepner, a trauma surgeon at Seattle Grace-Mercy West Hospital, by pushing her out of the way of a semi. She got a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, severe brain injuries, and had to have her leg amputated. After all of this trauma and surgery, she was stuck in a coma for a day. When she woke up, she was able to tell the physicians her name: Natalie. Just Natalie. No last name. She remembered her previous life, before the wreck. Many asked why she was outside the night of the blizzard, and she told them. It was a shocking truth. Natalie was a homeless orphan, living on the streets of Seattle after she ran away from the foster care system."

Derek kept driving as Meredith kept reading. "Her primary doctors, neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd and his wife, fellow surgeon, Dr. Meredith Grey, became very close to the girl. 'They became like my family, the family I never had. They took care of me, hung out with me, brought me food. They were amazing.' Natalie told the Seattle Gazette"

"Wait." Meredith put down the paper. "When did they interview her?"

"I have no idea!" Derek laughed surprised. "I'm going to have to ask her about that when we get her."

"No kiddin." Meredith grunted. Derek shot her a sly smile.

"Keep reading!"

Okay, okay. Calm down! I'll keep reading! 'Derek and Meredith seemed to agree. Three months ago, they asked Natalie a very serious question: if they could adopt her. 'I said, "Really? You want me? The random girl with one leg?"' Natalie said. "But, they seemed very serious about wanting to adopt me. It was probably the best day of my life." This heart-warming story just goes to show that at one moment, your life can be awful. You can be homeless, orphaned, and severely injured. And the next, you could have a family, and a home. Never take any moment in your life for granted. It could change everything.' "

Meredith set the paper down on her knees. It truly hit her now that she and Derek had dramatically changed Natalie's life, for the better. Not only were they adopting her, giving her a home, a family, a chance at a good life, they also gave her the gift of life. Without Derek, she would be brain dead right now, gorped, gone. He saved her spiritually and medically.

They sat in silence for the rest of the ride, including the fifteen minute trip on the ferry. They just stared out the windshield, out onto the road, at the sidewalks, at the smiling faces they passed by.

Suddenly, everything seemed to be a little bit clearer. The sun was shining just a little bit brighter. The sky was just a little more blue. And surprisingly, considering they were in Seattle, it wasn't raining.

They pulled into Derek's parking spot, one that was just steps from the main entrance. Of course, Meredith thought. Only the best for McDreamy!

Derek pulled the key out of the ignition and looked his wife up and down. "You ready?" He asked sincerely, wanting to know the answer.

"Yes." Meredith replied. And this time, she meant it. She wasn't lying. She wasn't saying what she thought Derek wanted to hear. She was being completely honest. She was ready. She was ready to change Natalie's life.

Suddenly, all her nerves, and all her fears, and all her worries just, disappeared. Only excitement remained, and that was feeling that Meredith got rarely.

In unison, the duo unbuckled their seatbelts and got out of the car. And they walked towards the entrance of the hospital, towards the future, with their heads held high, and their hands intertwined.


	19. Take a Step Back

**So guys, this is it. The final chapter of part 1. Now, this story is not done yet. This is just the end of say, Season 1. Be on the look out for the second part of this story!**

 **Now, a huge thank you goes out to my wonderful followers, especially those who have been there since Chapter 1 and have commented, and reviewed, and PMed, and have tried to make this story better. You guys are amazing and I couldn't ask for more!**

 **Please Enjoy!**

Natalie stared out the window of her room. She watched as birds flew from tree to tree, singing greetings to the others. Strong winds rustled the top branches crazily. A squirrel was scurrying around the base of one of the trees, maybe trying to find a nut. That can't be right. Natalie thought. You don't chase nuts. They can't run away. Huh….that would be funny. A nut with legs, an acorn running from a squirrel like 'ah HELL nah. You're not eating me.'

"Woah." Natalie gasped, shaking her head, clearing those thoughts from her mind. "I must be really tired to be thinking of things like that." She mumbled to herself. It was true. She was tired. She hadn't slept a wink the night before.

But, how could she?

Today her new life began.

"Natalie?" She a perky voice asked, opening her door slightly. Natalie turned to see her nurse, Jennifer, standing in the doorway, a wheelchair placed infron of her. "You're all signed out, and Dr. Shep….I mean, your parents," she said parents with a small smile, "are in the lobby. I'm here to wheel you down. You all packed?"

Natalie gave her a small smile. "Yep." She sat up on her bed, and grabbed her bag from the chair next to her. She didn't have much stuff in the hospital anyway, so packing had been a breeze. Meredith had already bought Natalie some new clothes, but after she got settled in, Natalie and her new mom were going on a shopping spree.

Natalie was so excited.

Carefully, Jennifer brought the wheelchair closer to the bed. Then, careful not to hurt to hurt the girl, lifted Natalie on to her foot. Natalie looked down and sighed. Her new prosthetic wouldn't be in until next week. She was stuck with just one leg for now. It sucked.

But, you know what, she could live with one leg.

She had a family now.

Gently, Natalie sat down in the chair. Jennifer placed her bag in her lap. "Thanks Jenny." Natalie cooed. The nurse gave her a gentle smile and began to push the chair towards the already open door.

"I'm going to miss you Nat." Jenny said softly. "You're one of my favorite patients."

Natalie laughed lightly. "I am sure you say that to everyone."

"Well, you got me there…...but, this is one of the only times I have ever meant it." Jenny smiled crazily. Natalie laughed loudly at this. "It's true! Some patients are inconsiderate jerks, especially to the nurses, but not you."

Natalie calmed down after that. "Thanks Jenny."

"No problem girly."

They walked in silence after that. Natalie waved at people as she was wheeled out. She had been here for a few months. She had gotten to know a lot of people, especially the staff. She could now pick out each person and tell you their name and job description.

A tall, black man walked by, waving at Nat as she went. Her wore a pair of light green scrubs and had a patient chart in his hand. That was Tyler. He was a nurse.

The next one was a beautiful woman with long golden hair that was now pinned up in a braid. She wore a scrub cap with birds on it and navy blue scrubs. She squeezed Natalie's shoulder as they passed, giving her an encouraging smile. This was Teddy Altman, former Army trauma surgeon, and current head of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

The next one was a short, balding man with rimmed classes and a flustered look on his face. This was Shadow Shepard. Or, Dr. Nelson. Natalie had tried to learn his first name, but she wasn't sure anyone in the whole Hospital knew his first name.

And the list went on and on. Nurses, Orderlies, Patients, Doctors, Visitors. All of them stopped to say goodbye to Natalie as Jenny wheeled her out of the Pediatric wing and onto the elevator.

According to Jenny, Meredith and Derek were waiting for her in the lobby, all set to take her home.

Natalie thought for a moment about the couple that she now called Mom and Dad. They were both incredibly attractive people. Meredith was tall, skinny, blonde, and had an aura of mystery about her that just made you want to know her. Derek, well, Derek was tall and handsome, with some of the most amazing hair Nagalie had ever seen. The couple was wealthy, but didn't gloat about it, successful, but not pompous, and they were happy.

Why on earth had they picked the worlds most extreme pity party to adopt?

Honestly, Natalie didn't really care about the reason behind the adoption. She was just glad that it happened.

The elevator opened with a sudden ding, breaking Natalie out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw Meredith and Derek, sorry, her mom and dad, waiting for her in the lobby. They both looked extremely excited, but there was an undertone of nervousness to their expressions. But, she couldn't blame them.

Natalie herself was scared as hell.

"Hey Nat!" Derek grinned happily as Jenny wheeled her out. He shot a friendly look at the nurse and Jenny nodded, letting go of the chair and patting Nat on the shoulder before she left the family alone.

"Hey Derek." She shot him a smile. They had agreed to let Nat call them Meredith and Derek still, as it was a little weird for Natalie, considering she had never even come close to having people to call mom and dad before.

"You ready to go?"

"Oh yeah." She giggled. Derek smiled and rolled his eyes, grabbing the handles and wheeling his daughter out of the hospital.

A passerby never would have known that the girl talking to the adults was not really their biological child. They would assume Natalie was just their child, and that's what was amazing. Looking at them up close, they seemed completely normal.

But if you take a step back, you will find that there is so much more to this family than meets the eye.

There was sadness, abandoning, death, pain, sacrifice, grief, anger, a girl living on the streets, a broken home. But there was also good things to. Hope, love, a child willing to do anything, even jump in front of a truck to save a woman she doesn't even know. There was happiness.

Turns out, pushing someone out of the way of a moving truck not only saves their life, but it might also save yours as well.

 **Now, just for a kicks, if you want to comment what age you think I am, I will PM you if you are right or not. Then, after a little, I will tell everyone! I just want to see what you guys think.**


	20. A Change is Gonna Come

**AAAAAAHHHH! I start high school in two days. Kinda scared of being a freshmen, but I'm pretty physched still! This is a little bonus chapter added on to the end of the story. Sorry I haven't written a sequel yet, but I'm waiting for inspiration to strike.**

 **Hopefully the sequel will come to me soon.**

 **Please leave me a review, or a PM, or check out my other stories. I love feedback!**

 **This is a lead in to my sequel. Stay tuned...**

She stared directly at Callie, her eyes wide with alarm. Her hands fiddled restlessly in her lap as the awkward silence filled the room, casting an awkward air around the two.

"You're pregnant?" Natalie said slowly.

"Yes." Callie nodded shortly, avoiding eye contact.

"With Mark's baby?"

"Yes."

"Does Arizona know?"

Callie almost snorted. "Oh hell no."

Nat raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Natalie, nobody but me and you know." Callie explained. "And the only reason you know was because you saw me in the bathroom with a positive pregnancy test. Not exactly like I could deny it then."

Natalie shook her head, and leaned back. The two of them were on the couch in the doctor's lounge. It was almost 2 in the morning. Natalie was staying late because both Meredith and Derek had been called in to emergency surgery, and Callie was here because she really, _really_ didn't want to go home.

This morning, Natalie had walked into the bathroom and found Callie sobbing against a wall, a positive pregnancy test in her hands. As Callie and Arizona couldn't exactly make a baby, she knew that something was up.

And Callie knew she couldn't lie about it, not to this girl.

"Well then." Natalie huffed, crossing her arms. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"Well, I'm not getting an abortion if that's what you're thinking!" Callie leaned back, horrified. Natalie immediately shook her head.

"No, no, no." She stuttered. "No. That's not what I meant. What I meant was, are you going to tell him? Do you want to keep it?"

Natalie really did like Mark, but she had no idea how he would be as a father. Mark was a nice guy, but he used to be an asshole, a playboy, and kind of a dick. And, he didn't exactly have a good father figure in his life. His father was a deadbeat that never got off the couch, and his mother was dead. He wasn't exactly the perfect man for the job.

And yet, there was something about Mark that screamed 'dad'. Of course, there was Sloan. I had never met her, but I had heard all about the infamous Sloan, about how Mark had grown attached to her, and had almost adopted her son, his grandson. He was kind and loyal. He always did whatever it took to help the ones he loved. He only wanted the best for his friends and his family.

But then... then there was Lexi.

She had already left Mark once for forcing a family on her before she was ready. How the hell would she react to being forced into that position again? One could only imagine.

"Nat? Nat?" Callie's voice called her out of her thoughts and back into reality.

"Huh?" She grunted, shaking her head to bring the world back into focus.

"You kind of zoned out there for a moment." Callie chuckled, her hand absentmindedly going to her stomach. "I'm keeping the baby. That's already decided. I just... I don't know how Arizona will react to this, but it most definitely won't be good. That much I can already tell you."

Natalie giggled. "Definitely. But hey. Callie?"

"Yeah?"

"Speaking as someone who had no parents, tell Mark about the baby. He deserves to know, and more than that, the baby deserves to have as many parents in her corner as possible. Trust me. You need as many as you can get in this messed up world."

Callie looked carefully at the young girl, her expression thoughtful. "You truly are something special, you know that? I mean, what kind of kid is able to have this mature of a conversation about something this serious? Trust me Nat. If my kid ends up half as amazing as you," She grabbed the girl's hand. "Then they'll be truly amazing."

"Thanks Cal." She smiled, with a hint of a glistening tear in her eye.

Just then, Meredith and Derek walked, both of them in their street clothes. "Hey Callie." Derek smiled. "What are you two talking about?" He raised an eyebrow, waggling it at the two. Nat groaned while Callie gave a small chuckle.

"Nothin. Just girl talk." Nat smiled, rolling her eyes at her adoptive father's antics.

"Anyway, you two," Meredith interjected, grabbing Derek's hand. "You ready to go home?"

"Yes ma'am." Natalie smiled, standing up slowly off the couch. 'Let's get going."

"Night Callie." Derek smiled, giving a small wave.

"See you in surgery tomorrow Cal." Meredith added. Callie nodded back, acknowledging her.

"See you then guys." She smiled. "Oh, and Nat..."

"Uh huh?"

"Can we keep this..." She trailed off, not wanting to announce things in front of Meredith and Derek.

"Keep what?" She smiled, adding a little wink at the end before turning and walking out of the room, following her parent's lead.

"Keep being you Nat." Callie chuckled, placing her hands on her abdomen, smiling about the baby that was growing inside her. "We'll be okay." She whispered.

Although, she didn't know if she entirely believed it herself.

 **Please leave me a review and wish me luck in my first year of high school!**


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